


Quiver

by orphan_account



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Final Fantasy Franchise, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Acting, Alternate Universe, Angst, Class Distinction, Death, Drama, F/M, Film Industry, Gang Violence, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Judgement, Lies & Deception, Multi, Music, Romance, Teenagers, Trust, Urban Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-10 03:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Emotion is stupid. Acting is easy. It’s simply living one lie after another.” She promised herself she would never love, never trust again. Then he crashed into her life, tearing down all her barriers in his wake. But he isn’t the only one that can blast through defences. “So, are you ready for a little heartbreak warfare?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. accord

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a combination of three fan fictions, Believe Me, I’m Lying (which can be found on the orphan account on AO3), Ragdoll, and acrylic. 
> 
> warning:- I only have a vague idea of it at the moment, but there will probably be violence, swearing, mature themes, sexual implications and situations, and I might have to bump up the rating further along the track.
> 
> disclaimer:- Varying references are made during this story to things I have not created, nor receive any profit for. Kingdom Hearts, The World Ends With You various Final Fantasies and Disney belong to Square Enix and Disney, meaning most that lie therein.
> 
> Now, I hope you’ll all enjoi.

* * *

**Quiver**

_“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.”_ ~Sivananda

**Q**

_“Radiant Garden, School of Modern Art? That’s great, Nami! You should totally go for it!” There’s excitement in his voice she doesn’t like._

_“I think I’ll pass.”_

_“What? Seriously?” Astonishment._

_“Yeah, I don’t want to be away from yo-”_

_A pause._

_Apprehension. “What was that?”_

_“Ah… I mean… I don’t want to be away from Yuj… And Hope, and Neku, and dad, and Snow, Serah, Shiki, Neku, Lebreau and Vanille. What? Are you_ that _eager to get rid of me?”_

_“No way! It’d just be nice to see you trying something new.” Disappointment._

_“Say I try this out, what would you do? What are **you**_ , _as best friend, meant to do?”_

_“Beg you not to go, of course!” Unpredictability._

_Laughter. She will never understand him. “You’re impossible.”_

**Q**

_accord_

Falling. That was what ripped her from her dreams. There was a jolt through her system, a bright gust of air and she was suddenly awake, eyes snapping open to soft lamp light and snap-your-fingers jazz music. Shivers ran up her arms but her fingers drummed the table top instead of rubbing the pimpling skin, ignoring the tremble but listening to the way her nails hit the surface with a soft clack noise. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, tugging at the soft strands between her fingers and her palm, running it through her fingers before letting it go. The girl turned to tap, tap footsteps and the adjusted ashen hair fell back into her shapely wide, lake blue eyes.

“I swear you have got to be the only person I know that can fall asleep in a bar.” She welcomed the bright green eyes and the golden smile with a smaller, shyer one of her own, patting the empty stool at her side. The twitch of her lips was an automatic reaction, but if Hope Estheim hadn’t trained himself to look for it, he would have missed it. And he _did_ have to know what he was doing, he was her best friend after all.

“It’s so quiet in here when Snow is the bartender, can you blame me?” her voice was normally smooth, and had a nice velvet lilt to it, but since she had just woken up, air pipes dried and rusty, it came out hoarse and weak.

“Where is the useless piece of space anyway?” Hope grinned, getting up to look behind the counter. She knew when he was smiling that wide, he was trying to get her to mirror the emotion. Hope was normally solitary, a fairly normal, level-headed guy. To most, he seemed boring, a creature of habit. He didn’t adjust to change well, so he had an heir of predictability about him, he was very easy to read, but he had a sense of determination and a gentle kind of personality she could never understand. He didn’t express his emotions well, that’s why she could tell when he was forcing his smile- even just a little bit.

“I can _hear_ you two, you know.”

A hulking giant of a man came out from behind the storage room door. This man was Snow Villiers. Snow and Naminé were cousins, but had grown up in completely different worlds due to unforeseen circumstances. Snow was an orphan, and had only met with his aunt –Naminé’s mother- when he was very young. They might have looked the same, with platinum blond hair, and bright blue eyes, but their personalities and statures differed by leaps and bounds. Snow was a jolly giant, and Naminé was a reclusive ice princess.

He set two steaming cups of hot chocolate before the teenagers, grinning when they accepted them readily. Naminé started drinking quickly, eager to soothe her throat, but Hope looked at his drink suspiciously before looking back at Snow, “Who keeps hot chocolate in a _bar?_ ”

“One that caters to weird kids like you,” he teased, leaning over with one of his support-beam arms and ruffling Hope’s fluffy white hair.

They were in Lebreau’s Café, a small little shop that was more like a fancy beach shack decorated with a friendly faded brown interior and many colourful elements inside, like the colour of the self-service machines, the soft round lights, or the array of rainbow mix-drinks lining the walls closest to the bar. Not only was the atmosphere so friendly (who ever thought a place that served alcoholic beverages could attract _children_?) but being so close to the sea had its pluses. Lebreau’s Café catered to anyone, with drinks and snacks from children to people in their mid-forties, but mostly attracted teenagers and young adults. Naminé had been coming here ever since she was thirteen, when _he_ guided her here. One year later, she was transferring to Bodhum School of the Creative Arts.

“So Snowflake,” it was her nickname here at Bodhum, all of the locals called her that. She was seemingly delicate, and slightly cold, but many had come to understand her silence as comforting rather than unnerving, “have you thought about that offer Luxord offered you?”

Luxord was also a cousin of Snow and Naminé. His father was related to both of their mothers. Snow’s mother had married and changed their maiden name, that’s why he went under ‘Villiers’. When his mother had died, Naminé’s mother and Luxord’s father didn’t hear about it due to communication issues.

“Snow, I’m not sure I want to… I don’t really want to go back to Twilight Town.”

Naminé went to the Bodhum Branch of one of Eraqus Inoue’s Schools for the Gifted, where a required ‘triple threat’ was necessary to enter, this meant having one stationary specialty field, and two back up subjects. Naminé’s main focus was art, with Music and Acting as secondary fields. As a requirement, she had been working in one of Bodhum’s local theatres as a small time actress, helping the stage crew design props and propaganda as well. It was her last job, performing in a play called ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’, which had gotten the attention of her cousin, a talent scout and business manager of Never Was Studios.

Hope was the one that spoke this time, “Why not?”

She mulled over the question, trying to organise her thoughts and feelings into words. _Because I don’t want to meet new people, I want to stay here where it’s safe and I know everybody._ _Because I’m not ready for a new adventure._

“I just feel better here, besides, I never planned to go anywhere with acting. What would I do with a movie roll?” She only acted because she was good at it. Naminé thought she was pretty good at reading people, so she’d learnt to imitate the way people sounded, looked and acted when they felt a certain kind of emotion. What she felt of actual sentiments were an echo of the distant past. She didn’t think she was good enough for an acting role, but apparently the director of the film said fresh talent was good and that she fit the bill for the look of the leading lady. Honestly… if looks is all that it took to land herself the lead…

“ _Something._ I mean, have you thought of anything beyond graduation?”

_Yuck._ She despised the word. Had it been some contemporary life form, she would have butchered it and fed it’s genitalia to her cat.

“No, and I don’t _want_ to.” Years ago, she had been thrilled with the prospect of planning her career. She had it all planned out. She was going to university; she was going to earn a degree in business. She was going to find a husband and raise two children. It was the perfect ideal. But then _he_ happened and she decided to throw the entire plot to the seven layers of Hell. She couldn’t deal with a life that could be secured with a pretty neat bow. She needed… she didn’t want to accept those boundaries.

“C’mon, Nami,” Hope grinned, placing a hand on her shoulder gently. The feel of his grip and the comforting smell of the ocean soothed her. If she took the chance to go to Twilight Town, she would lose this. She’d miss coming to Lebreau’s Café whenever she wished. She wouldn’t be able to see Hope, Snow, Lightning, Serah or Yuj. “Neku and Shiki are going, at least if they go, you won’t be totally by yourself.”

Neku and Shiki were her other best friends that also went to the same school. Neku was a great musician, already releasing his debut album titled _‘The World Ends With You’_ of course, it had been with Naminé’s help… but that’s a story saved for another time _._ Shiki was a gifted fashion designer and had both accepted jobs for this role as well, since their association with Naminé’s sleepy Bodhum theatre had caught the attention of those at Never Was Studios.   

She looked to the ocean to estimate the time by the position of the sun, instead of craning her head for the clock or stealing Hope’s wristwatch, regretting it immediately because an unpleasant face was slowly making his way over to their café. She tried to feign away her hatred, and soon enough, she slipped into a state of apathy that she had become all too familiar with.

“Well, if it isn’t my acute darling.”

Naminé turned her head, releasing a sigh of exasperation, eyes half-lidded and unimpressed. Sho Minamimoto had been her boyfriend for around two years sometime around grade eight, when she still went to The Academy, a prep school based in the Shibuya district of Academia. Hope still went there, that’s why she didn’t have as much contact with him as she’d like. Sho was certainly attractive, with dark brown eyes and incredible fashion style, but after high school started he developed a rather aggressive personality. His incredible intelligence had started to get the better of him, and his jealous side had come out when she started to come to Bodhum instead of hanging out with him- or rather, hang of his arm like eye candy.

The worse thing was, when she dumped him, he never got over her. He came here a lot to harass her, but he normally left as soon as Snow started threatening him.

  1. She felt a hand grab her chin and wrench it up so that she was looking him in the eyes. Despite being annoyed with his behaviour, she had a tolerance for Sho. His visits varied from simple ‘hellos’ to arguments, so she had to wait a little bit to find out what was his plan this time. Sho had already graduated, but still hung out with the people that he had in high school. She recognised Koki and Uzuki, both mysterious and eccentric characters.   



“Leave her alone Sho,” Hope growled.

He let her chin go and leant down to whisper in her ear, but spoke loud enough so that everyone could hear, “I’m just here to convince Snowflake, once again, that the probability of our reunion is at eighty-two point seventeen percent.”

“Mhmm, and flying gummi snakes shoot out of bunny rabbit’s ears whenever I say ‘Death to the peanut butter’,” Naminé drawled with a completely straight face, unaffected by his attempt at seduction.

Sho stared at her with a look of distaste, “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“See? This is why we can’t be together anymore, Sho. I don’t hang off your arm like a limpet and want a high class business degree.”

“That’s absurd,” he replied, narrowing his eyes, “you were perfectly happy when you were with me.”

“I never _knew_ happiness until-”

But Sho cut her off, “I _know,_ until you met that _ridiculous_ engineer. Can’t you see Naminé? They’re all yoctograms. These fractals have no future.”

“See, your insults would be more affective if you adjusted them to the IQ of a normal person,” Hope told him. “Afractals and geometric figures are hardly what you call insulting. There’s a certain point between Q.E.D. and intitialism where people just stop caring.” Ah, see? Hope was pretty smart too. He was studying some kind of scientific field involving theoretical physics that Naminé forgot the name of whenever he explained it to her. She was glad they were friends despite the fact that their career paths were so different.

Sho puffed out his chest, angered at a boy two years younger than himself, “You were a lot better _before_ you met that stupid, pathetic, no-future engineer, M-” She felt the surge of anger before she could control the impulses, bright fiery red flooding her vision with passion and fire. When the stab of fury dissipated, Sho was on the floor, nursing a broken nose. Naminé had stood up so quickly that the stool she was sitting on fell down. Hope and Snow were looking at her with astonishment while Sho’s companions helped him out of the café.

The blond released a shuddering breath, placing her hand on her forehead and dragging it down her face.

“You’re right… Maybe I do need a change of scenery. Give me some more time to think about it.”

**Q**

“Are you serious? Shooting takes up three quarters of the _year?_ ” her voice raised an octave as she stared at her phone in astonishment. “That’s… the _rest_ of it.” She looked at her friend Neku beside her, who blinked his large blue eyes and turned away, staring into space as he continued to eat his lunch.

_“I’m sorry, Naminé, but that is how it works,”_ Luxord explained on the other end of the line. This was a very expensive phone call, considering Luxord, being in Twilight Town now, was on the other side of the world. But they both belonged to rich parentage, and despite what Naminé knew rich girls liked boys to think, there were some moments when money just didn’t matter. _“I spoke with your father, he said he was willing to pay the expenses for both you and your brother.”_

“What?” she asked replied in confusion, startling Neku who looked back at her in curiosity. In truth, she wasn’t speaking very loudly, and they were in a public park in the middle of Shibuya, but the orange-haired male beside her had sensitive hearing. “Why is Joshua coming?” This time, Neku spat out the soda he was drinking, alarming several of the other passers-by in the park. He didn’t really care –Neku was just like that, he didn’t care about many people’s opinions- and continued to stare at her as she talked on the phone.

_“Your brother is learning about business and advertising, isn’t he? Your father thought that it would be a good learning experience. He will be spending most of his time with me.”_

“What about school?” she asked.

_“Of course, for you students, school is provided in blocks between filming. When thinking about ratio, I’d say that it’s three or four days, compared with weeks of filming. You have a lot of free time in comparison to that.”_

“Do you think that would be enough time to get a job?” she knew her question sounded stupid from the moment she uttered it. She was the spoilt rich girl, was she not? Why would she need a job? “I don’t want to rely solely on my father.”

_“It’s an odd proposition, but I suppose it can be arranged. I mean, you do have some spare time around shooting. I’m sure I can get something arranged. I know what, cousin, there’s a small little art store that I heard was looking for some help. They pay by the hour, so you’ll have flexible working time.”_

“That sounds perfect, Luxord… Well… I swear I’ll get back to you by the end of the day with an answer. Okay?”

_“Remember that it reaches ten o’clock in Twilight Town at your two p.m. As far as I see it, you’ve got three hours to decide whether you want this or not.”_

“No pressure then.”

She heard a merry chuckle on the other end of the phone before he said a hearty, _“Goodbye Naminé.”_ and hung up.

She let out an exhale and finally turned to see Neku, who was probably waiting for her to start speaking. Now the reason she and Neku were best friends was because they were both fairly solitary people, and had to be tugged out of their own little shells to speak to each other. Neku, and his friend Shiki, had been her friends since she moved here at eight years old to join her father and brother, after her mother died. Shiki was friends with Joshua, her brother. Neku was friends with Shiki, but absolutely despised Joshua. They just didn’t get along.

The relationship between Naminé and her twin brother was complicated. They had both been split apart very soon after they were born, and she went with her mother, who was incredibly wealthy, but didn’t flaunt it so as to hide her status. Naminé grew up believing she was normal. Her mother died of geostigma when Naminé was eight years old, so she moved from Twilight Town to Academia, Shibuya, which happened to be right next to the sea-side city of Bodhum.

Here, where there was a vast amount of cultural graffiti, she found Neku admiring the pictures. They met on bad terms, one was a fight between Neku and Joshua, the second was a fight between Neku and Sho. The third time she caught him fighting with Joshua, she stopped defending her brother and asked what happened as she attempted to clean his wounds. Neku explained the story, and she insisted that she take him to a pharmacist to buy some band-aids, making up for Joshua’s irritating personality with a free lunch. Their relationship had developed from there. He introduced her to Shiki, and they became fast friends too. She’d been friends with Neku for about six years.

They were looking at a new exhibition today, but ultimately, she just needed someone to talk to about the situation. Neku didn’t have many things tying him to Shibuya and Bodhum. Most of his close friends were coming with him to Twilight Town, he had a father that was willing to pay for the plane ticket and accommodation, as long as he got a job for food and other entertainment. He had been ecstatic (in his own silent way) about leaving.  

He tilted her head expectantly, and she almost laughed at how adorable he looked. She knew Neku could be stand-offish, blunt and just plain mean, but he was also very cute, there were some parts of human interaction he just didn’t get. Plus his spikes looked funny when they bounced.

“Joshua is sticking around because he’s working with my cousin in business and advertising, not because he’s going to be developing the movie in anyway.”

“Really?” he muttered breathily. She loved the way Neku spoke, it was as if he had trouble speaking. Every word was whispered and as inaudible as possible, barely getting a glimpse of his rough, boyish voice. And then he _sang_ and it was phenomenal. She could hardly believe the artist behind _The World Ends With You_ could have been Neku, not with the fact that he _hardly_ ever _spoke._ Looks can be incredibly deceiving.

“You can deal with that, can’t you?” the corner of her lips twitched up and she tilted her head, golden hair cascading down in a wavy curtain. He answered her with a small smirk and a nod.

“Have to. He’s already bought the plane tickets.” ‘He’ is in reference to Neku’s father. _That’s_ how closed off he was. But she supposed she couldn’t say any different. Her father just threw money at her and her brother and told them to leave him alone. The last time that Naminé had spoken with her father was regarding the release of Neku’s album, and even that was very brief.

He got up and gestured for her to follow him. They could both ready body language pretty well. He followed her to the mural exhibition, and she was surprised by the amount of people that flocked to Neku’s side, asking for autographs. He had become pretty popular among the locals once his songs had actually reached the charts a few weeks ago. He signed a few album covers –under Naminé’s insistent eye- and then said that he wouldn’t be signing any more. The public groaned, but eventually left him be so that he could regroup with Naminé and enjoy the murals.

They waited in the exhibition, wondering where the hell Shiki had gotten to. They were both examining a work which looked like some kind of white marsupial among a splash of melting rainbows when she arrived, stuffed toy and all, carrying three shopping bags. Neku and Naminé rolled their eyes at the display. Shiki was a shopaholic, and simply couldn’t help herself.

Shiki was also a curious case; when Naminé first met her, she was small and wore granny clothes that were unflattering for her figure. Now she was talented enough to sow her own clothes. Naminé believed the courage came from dying her hair from brown-black to a vibrant red-pink. That was why she was picked as a seamstress in the textile department of this new movie. Her family was happy to see their daughter moving up in the world, especially since they had considered her love of fashion a dead-end dream.

“‘Kay, Neku. I can take Nami from here,” Shiki chirped happily, watching in confusion as the musician nodded his head.

“You’re not coming?”

“ _Shopping?_ You have got to be kidding me.”

She released a little sigh, “Yeah, I suppose.”

He was about to start walking away, raising a hand in goodbye before he turned around a bit, just so that the side of his face was visible, “You should take the job.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms, “Why?”

Neku was rarely a bold person, but… he knew how to get his point across.

“ _He_ would have wanted you to.”

Even after he was gone, Naminé continued to stare at the space he had been for about a minute before Shiki bent down and tried to inspect her friend’s face, “You alright, Nami?”

He would have wanted you to…

_Dammit Neku, that’s playing dirty._

She closed her eyes, heaving in a huge breath, releasing it as she opened them, turning to her friend, “Yeah. I’m good. So why do I need shopping again?”

“How do you know what kind of shops are in Twilight Town? What if they’re nowhere near a designer boutique? What will you do then, Nami?”

“I will _work with it_ like any normal social recluse.”

“Nonsense,” the red-head replied dramatically, a huge grin splitting her face. Sometimes she wondered how Shiki and Neku had ever become friends. She was so flamboyant and friendly compared to him, “you’re going to make lots of friends there.”

The blond bobbed her head and gave her an unimpressed look. Shiki stared her off before pouting at her, “Shiki…”

“Okay, fine. If you’re going to act like a snob, then you might as well dress like the prettiest snob there.”

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile as Shiki dragged her through Shibuya rattling on about imaginary excuses to go shopping. She was making sure she enjoyed her last few days in Academia.

**Q**

“We have to find the perfect outfit to make sure you make a big first impression!” she skipped across the pavement and performed a pirouette. Shiki is one of the people she would _never_ have chosen as a friend, given the circumstances. She was incredibly pretty. Naminé supposed it was that ‘ugly duckling’ theorem come to life. Shiki had once been plain and boring, but had transformed into a swan. Naminé wondered if she could force this metamorphosis.

Naminé rolled her eyes, drawling, “I don’t want to make a _big_ first impression. I want to get by unscathed.”

“That is not the right way to be thinking,” Shiki smiled, leading her into a boutique. She hated when she did this. The red-head was notorious with her fashion, and so much better than her with it. Naminé could chose entire outfits, and Shiki could improve them within three seconds of completion. “This move is something of an opportunity for all of us, for you, it might mean to…”

“If you’re going to say ‘move on’ I am going to go back on my word and just leave you to rot in Twilight Town.” Naminé felt like a child that was not getting her way. In the last few days, she hadn’t felt like she’d been able to make any of her own decisions. All of her family members and friends were forcing their opinions on her. And their methods of coercion were getting worse and worse.

Shiki looked over her shoulder, brown eyes darkened, “What’s wrong with bringing a little more happiness into your life?”

The red-head took a skirt from the shelf and threw it at her, Naminé caught it in her fist and rolled her eyes. Dammit. Naminé would admit, that despite how boyish she could be, she couldn’t ignore her female embodied sense of fashion, and this skirt was just so adorable. Shiki was always looking out for her, like a big sister, but she was a little pushy sometimes. It was the confidence that was instilled in her when she entered seventh grade.

“You guys are really pushing me into this,” the blond glowered, pretty cerulean eyes darkening menacingly.

“We’re still looking for a point of blackmail.”

The taller girl threw a shirt at her, and she caught that as well. She wished she could focus on the conversation, and not how gosh-darn cute the shirt was.

“It’s still rather low. I mean seriously, ‘He would have wanted you to’?” Naminé narrowed her eyes and Shiki shrugged at her, tossing Naminé a blazer.

“If you made yourself vulnerable to any _other_ point of blackmail, we would have jumped on that in a heartbeat, but this is the only way to make you do our bidding.”

“This sucks.”

“Tough love, Honey,” Shiki presented Naminé with a box of shoes and pushed her into a change room. The ensemble was gorgeous, sophisticated and definitely going to pull the attention of other people towards her, but push them away. Shiki really knew her stuff. Maybe it was a good thing she was going to become a fashion designer.

Naminé hesitated halfway through changing, pressing her hand against the door. She slowly buttoned up the top that Shiki had forced on her, sighing against the side. “Do you really think that sending me to Twilight Town is the best way for me to forget about him?”

“Not _forget_ about him, you silly girl. But you _do_ need to let him go. You need to open up and trust someone again. You need to… you need to _live._ ”

“But I don’t want to…”

She could see Shiki’s boots underneath the door to the changing room. She heard a hand being placed against the door, and then a whisper.

“I’m unhappiest when you’re weight down by the past.”

Naminé clenched her fists and sighed, hitting the cubicle with her forehead as the memory enveloped her. She was swept into warm, strong arms. Her hand flew to her side, and tangled itself in soft blond spikes, the familiar smell of ocean spray and engine oil surrounding her.

_“Lately, you’re always looking at me as if you’re sad… are you?”_

_“Mhmm, because you are. Would it kill you to smile, Naminé?”_

_“Give me a reason to…”_

_“I’m unhappiest when you’re weight down by the past… I love it when you smile, I like it when you’re happy.”_

As his voice filtered through reality, so did her consciousness. She stepped out of the cubicle in her new outfit and fitted Shiki with a fierce glare.

“ _Fine._ I’ll go. But don’t you _ever_ use his words against me again.”

“Understood.”

What had she gotten herself into?

_So is this really what you would have wanted? I promised myself I wouldn’t trust again. I’m so confused… I wish you were here._


	2. façade

_“We judge others by their behaviour. We judge ourselves by our intentions.”_ ~Ian Percy

**Q**

_façade_

“So, you decided to go.” It was more of a statement than a question on Snow’s part, placing a polar-bear hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t help but feel her side was going to collapse on her. She saved herself the embarrassment of falling by turning around and attempting to give Snow a hug. It was hard because she couldn’t get her hands around the massive brute, it was kind of like a kitten trying to hug a lion. Or a _bear_ for that matter. Snow had always reminded her of polar bears.

Speaking of kittens...

Snow’s beautiful wife Serah came up beside her husband, carrying a pet carrier in her hands. Inside was a slender coffee-brown feline with bright green eyes, staring up at his mistress with confusion and varying amounts of stress. She could understand why, she supposed air travel was not as fun for pets as it was for humans. Naminé poked her finger through the hole, and the cat pawed at it playfully, releasing a curious mew before it fell from the shaky momentum of the carrier.

“You can’t forget Kovu here,” Serah laughed, propping the carrier on top of Naminé’s large baggage pile. The blond was dressed for a long flight, donning a comfortable pair of loose jeans and one of her baggy art shirts, as well as a pair of comfortable sneakers. Shiki and Neku had taken an earlier flight a few days before her. She would be travelling with Joshua, but they’d opted for seats a little ways away from each other.

“No way,” Hope agreed, popping up and giving Naminé a cup of coffee to drink in the waiting area. “I mean, Kovu tolerates us, but he really loves you.”

Because she was feeling generous, and this would be the last she saw of her friends for a long time, she offered him a full smile, scratching the back of her head. The frown shrunk when she realised something, “So does this mean Yuj and Light aren’t coming?”

“Here!” Yuj called, his blue hair noticeable from a mile off. He was dragging behind a very pissed-looking Lightning behind him. He tackled into Naminé, crushing her bones with a hug to rival one of Snow’s, which was surprising given Yuj’s slim stature.

“You’re so silly, Snowflake. You forgot the lucky headphones,” he explained, holding them out to her. She took them delicately in her hands, examining the chunky, white-grey and orange palette of the device. Normally, she wouldn’t use a device like this one, opting for something a little more slender and feminine, but…

Naminé placed them in her bag, kissing Yuj’s cheek and giving him another hug. She said goodbye to each of her friends with a hug and a kiss, except for Lightning, who looked strained, even if it was only a hug. She lingered by Hope’s ear, quietly whispering, “If you haven’t confessed to Lightning by the time I get back, there will be consequences…” before she trotted off, giving a final wave to her make-shift family as she strode through the doors.

**Q**

Her trip to Twilight had required a stop at Radiant Garden, the Kingdom of Damascus and the run down city of Midgar, but in the end, she had gotten there. She felt sorry for her poor cat, having to be cooped up in the carrier for so long. She was glad that Kovu slept most of the way, and she had enough time to play with him and feed him in between the breaks. She was considering leaving him behind originally, but she knew she wouldn’t have been able to survive without _someone_ close to her at all times.

When they had breaks in between plane rides, she often ate with her brother, speaking about what he was going to do once he was at Twilight Town. He explained that their father had already booked them accommodation in different buildings, but in the same street so that they were in close proximity of each other when they needed to be. She asked him a little more about the advertising business and made idle chatter that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Sometimes, her and her brother didn’t get along, they had a rather distant relationship, due to not being around each other enough, but when they were forced together, they could make nice. It still amazed her to know that they were twins, because she viewed them as entirely different.

Of course, they could still pass off for each other if Naminé bound her chest and wore a wig, and if Joshua got some contacts, but apart from that, they were very different.

An announcement over her cabin woke her up from a dream filled with catchy punk-electro music, blond spikes and intoxicating blue eyes. That was when she realised she was about to land in Twilight City. A canvas of amazingly warm colours painted everything in a soft orange hue she instantly fell in love with, but then she looked back at the screen embedded into the seat in front of her. It was around two pm here.

That was strange; it looked like it was almost twilight. When the plane touched down, she would immediately grab her stuff and Kovu, change in the bathrooms and then meet up with her brother. Apparently there had been confusion with their rooms and they hadn’t been cleaned yet, so neither of them could go into their apartments until the end of the day. She wondered what she was going to do with her time until then.

Deciding the forgo collecting her things for a second, because _dammit_ she didn’t have anyone to watch her stuff, she slipped into a stall and changed her attire. She came out feeling incredibly refreshed. Instead of gross sweatpants and another painter’s smock she’d thrown on in the last stop, she was wearing a frilly white lace shirt, tucked into a pleated black-green-red tartan mini-skirt, accentuated with silky black bow on the side. She strutted in silver-buckled black striped heels that were slick and high, but oddly comfortable, finishing the ensemble with blazer of elbow-length sleeves. She was wearing her favourite kind of jewellery, one of the only things she liked to indulge in, colourful and creative Betsey Johnson bracelets, watch, earrings and necklace, finishing up her accessories with sunglasses and a pinstriped-black diamante trilby hat. This was the outfit Shiki had forced her into the day she decided to take the job. She knew she looked nice, and all of the guys in the airport were supporting that fact, watching their eyes trail up her mile-long legs.

She might not be interested in picking one up, but this was something she learnt a little while ago; it takes a special kind of guy to ask a pretty girl out, especially when she worked so hard to be as intimidating as Naminé was. She swept her wavy blond hair to the side, combing it with her fingers as she moved to pick up her baggage, hoping Kovu wouldn’t be too angry with her.

The artist spent a lot of time trying to soothe Kovu’s angry hissing, clawing at the cage violently. “Shh! Shh- I’m sorry, Kovu! I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

_I have to. I need to buy him a new scratching post, a litter box, cat food. Luxord said the building I’ll be staying in is pet friendly. I wonder if there will be other animals for him to play with._

Unfortunately, she’d forgotten to recharge her phone at the last stop and her phone was seconds from dying. Naminé desperately tried to call her brother, but as soon as she tried to ring his number, her phone flashed white before becoming unresponsive.

_Ugh, great. I never really liked phones anyway. Well, I guess we can speak once I’ve recharged it._

She took a taxi to the place that she was staying and dragged her luggage inside, praying for an elevator. She was very glad that her father had chosen a place based on location and not appearance or reputation. It wasn’t high classed or fancy, it was moderate, and there would be normal people living here.

There was a girl there looked kindly with chin-length hair and warm brown eyes, she walked up to Naminé and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Garnet, the land lady’s daughter. Did you need any help with your room?”

“Ah, yes actually, I believe there’s already been an advanced payment from…” Naminé attempted to lower her volume so that other people wouldn’t hear her, “Ansem Kiryu?”

Garnet’s eyes widened and she placed her hand over her mouth, “Oh my, you’re his daughter… I knew the name sounded familiar in the register. I’ll get you your room key right away!”

“Ah yes, I desperately need to let my cat out, he’s very angry with me for keeping him in here so long.”

“I can totally understand,” she laughed, “my boyfriend acts like a wild animal sometimes.”

Naminé’s responding laugh was forced, but it seemed convincing enough for Garnet, as she handed over the key. The blond placed the key in her purse and accepted Garnet’s help with her second luggage so she wouldn’t have so much trouble carrying Kovu.

As they got out of the elevator, she hushed Garnet’s excited talking by saying, “Listen, I know this is a big favour and all, but… could you keep my last name a secret?”

“Ah yep, totally,” Garnet said. “The need for privacy must be intense.”

Naminé snorted, laughing, “Here, maybe.” Twilight Town was sleepier than Academia and Bodhum, there weren’t many celebrities walking about, so the ones that walked in were always stormed. She wasn’t considered that much of a celebrity back at Bodhum, but here it might be a different story.

“Oh yes, I needed to remind you that your dad sent someone to drop off your car three days ago. It’s parked in the lot.”

“Thanks.”

“Alright,” she stopped right in front of her door, on the very top floor (dammit _why?!_ ). “This is your room, on the end of the corridor right next to your neighbour one-thirteen. If you need any more help, I’m sure he’d be happy to provide it, he’s been living here for a very long time, and if he’s not in there, then you can ask me- if you can find me. I’m normally in the lobby downstairs when I’m working.”

“Thank you, Garnet,” she sighed in exhaustion before slipping in the key and slamming it shut, throwing herself onto the mattress. She heard someone calling for something next door, and then a few shifting noises, wondering what her neighbour was doing. Then she remembered that she wasn’t here to make friends.

She exhaled loudly, prompting the attention of her cat, who jumped onto the bed and curiously pawed at her hand. She loved Kovu; he always made her feel better.

“Man it’s stuffy in here.” She opened the doors to her balcony before remembering something. “Oh snap,” she whispered, getting up to shuffle in her bag, pulling out Kovu’s collar, a very thin black strip of leather, and wrestling it on to the feline. “This is for your own good! What if you get lost?” He replied with an aggravated mewl and leapt off of her once she was done.

“Stupid cat,” she sighed as Kovu walked around to explore some more. She stretched quickly, satisfied when she heard the pops among her joints, knowing that her cat food was the highest priority right now. He looked tired, and she was reminded he didn’t have a cat bed yet. She opened one of her drawers and he hopped inside, instantly falling asleep. The blond realised that she’d opened up a drawer of intimates, but didn’t have the heard to move her cat when he looked so comfortable sleeping there.

She made a list of all the things she needed, so distracted reading it when she walked out the door that she didn’t even notice when she bumped into someone.

“Hayner?”

“Naminé?”

“Oh my goodness!”

Naminé didn’t think she would run into anyone she knew so fast. Since she had come from Twilight Town before, she’d known the blond boy from primary school.

“It’s amazing to see you here,” he flashed her a smirk. Dammit, he’d gotten _tall_. And _muscly_ as well. He was a fine male specimen. She caught his eyes, and delighted in indulging in the colour again, a very warm brown colour. She was still precocious around him, even though her smile was genuine.

“What are you doing here? Is Pence with you?” she’d always been closer to Pence than she had been with Hayner.

“Yes, Pence was with me a second ago. He’s helping one of our friends to find his cat. What are you doing here?”

She wondered if she’d met this friend before. As she mulled this over, he gave her a once over and raised a brow at her chosen attire. Of course, Hayner wasn’t used to seeing her in such high-end clothing. He was used to seeing the silly artist girl that taught him how to finger paint properly and always failed in soccer.

“I’m working in Never Was studios. I’m playing the part of… ah; I think her name was Wave Aura.”

His eyes widened a fraction upon hearing that, “Wow, we’re taking jobs over there as well. The _lead_ role? I mean, don’t you get enough publicity as it is? With your father being who he is?”

“My friends guilted me into doing it,” she smiled fondly at the thought of her friends. She wished she was back in Bodhum already.

“Are you here by yourself?”

“No, I’ve got a few friends and my brother here too.”

“I never actually met your brother. You’re going to have to introduce me.”

“Later, at the moment I need to buy some pet supplies,” she waved him off, but he stopped her.

“Wait a second! I should show you around, since you don’t know where you’re going and all.”

She raised an eyebrow, “How gentlemanly of you.”

“So, how have you been doing near Academia?”

She thought about her answer carefully, would it be easier to tell him the truth or lie? She’d rather not deal with any sympathies, and she didn’t want to dreg up old memories in a new environment with so many changes going on. Her stress level was already at an all-time high.

“Fine.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Who’s asking?” she replied stiffly, looking at Hayner with more hesitance than she should have. It was a simple question; she should have been able to answer it without getting so defensive.

“Sorry, none of my business.”

“No… it’s just… it’s _complicated._ ”

Apparently, Naminé was not as emotionless as she thought, because Hayner caught on the tone of voice immediately, giving her a weird look before dropping the subject. He could tell something had gone wrong. If it wasn’t in her changed demeanour then it was in the way she spat out the word with venomous bile.

“Tell me what you’ve been doing?”

Hayner belonged to Twilight Town’s branch of Eraqus’ School for the Gifted. He said he was majoring in Special Effects, with Acting and Dancing as back-ups. According to him, Eraqus and Never Was Studios had made a deal to showcase a movie using most of their gifted students, and that’s how Hayner, Pence and Olette –another childhood friend- had been chosen. He was thinking of looking more into the Special Effects field.

“You have to be careful, this movie is bringing in teams from all over the world, and we don’t exactly get along well with some of them.”

“How can you make enemies that quickly?”

“Say… the Destiny Islands group. Something went down between one of their members and ours, and now they hate our guts, right? And since one member of the Destiny Islands group is related to one in Hollow Bastion, then they’re automatically against us too. But we have the group from Dark City on our side, because… It’s pretty complicated too. I’ll explain it to you later.”

“I see.”

“Here we are, Tram Common,” he gestured towards the vast marketplace. Naminé turned an unimpressed eye on the shops. Shiki was right, this was nothing like Academia. Her shopaholic tendencies were going to suffer. The only way to get to the larger Twilight City was to take the train.

Hayner looked down at his watch, “Oh, I’ve just got a text from Pence. I’ve got to go. But I’ll see you at the studio soon, okay?”

“Bye!”

**Q**

After buying Kovu’s items and dropping them off at her apartment, she decided to explore her neighbourhood a little more. She knew she should have remembered a little more of her old neighbourhood, but she was on a completely different side of town now. Her home had been in a back alley that was attached to Main Street, but now she was near Sunset Terrace.

She furrowed her eyebrows, feeling eyes on her back as she held her bag closer, regretting leaving the apartment now. There weren’t a lot of people around Sunset Terrace, and she hurried her way down to the boardwalk where there were more people, rather than taking the backs of buildings where there were shady figures calling for her to join him.

Outfits like hers would stop her from making friends, but it _still_ attracted the wrong kind of attention. She cursed Shiki’s tendency to dress like she was the centre of the universe, and then dress her up in the same kind of attire.

“Hey hunny, are you here by yourself?”

_Snap!_

She turned around a corner, only to find herself faced with another shady looking character.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you before.”

She looked up, finding a man with a strange scar running along his face. She panicked, looking around for an exit.

“Ah, no you haven’t, and maybe we should keep it like that, hmm?” she laughed nervously, and the stranger returned that smile.

“Come now.”

“Let me go, please.”

“Just spend some time with me and my boys, we’ll show you a good time.”

“I have a boyfriend,” she growled, snapping her hand back.

“C’mon, you annoying bi-” the second time he reached for her, she brought her leg around to slam her heel down on his wrist, running away once she heard the clear _crack_ in his bones.

_I am **so** glad I let Lightning and Snow give me self-defence lessons._

This place was a _lot_ more dangerous than she thought it would be.

On her way back to her apartment, she found a crowd of people around the fountain courtyards stopping her from getting across. She froze when she spotted a head of spikey blond hair, maybe a little off in colour, because of the sun, and the flash of bright blue eyes. She was sucked in, magnetised to the sight immediately, drawn to the familiar colour. As she passed through the crowd, the reality around her seemed to melt, and the bright orange of Twilight Town melded into a petal pink sky.

The shore brushing in and out with gentle rolling waves overpowered the chatter of the people by the fountain, Lebreau’s café and Lenora’s Garage built itself out of the ground as if constructing in fast-forward, trees rose of out the ground like magic, and her friends appeared around her, materialising in white-magic.

_“Naminé?”_

She turned around, and there he was, blond hair so uncontrollable it was adorable, mouth curled up into a welcoming smile, eyes so filled with love she could have drowned in their depths.

“M-”

He grabbed her hand, around the wrist, and then Bodhum started to fall apart. Fragment by fragment- like building blocks- fell away. The golden hair darkened by three more shades, the blue bright eyes turned into cerulean, and the radiant beam turned into a tight lipped frown.

Naminé blinked, snapping her neck to the side and watching her surroundings crumbling down around her. _No._ A thin film of salt developed over her eyes. She started shaking. She tried to force the lump in her throat down, and a sound came out that sounded like a strained whine. 

Even his voice changed, turning raspy and deeper while dark eyebrows rose into a fringe of sandy-blond bangs.

“What did you call me?”

She swallowed guilty, shaking her head so that her bangs flew about and obscured her face. “Sorry,” she released a choked sob, “I… I thought you were someone else.” Naminé bit on the inside of her lip to stop it from wobbling.

“H-hey… Are you okay?”

The artist slammed her eyes shut, nodding her head vigorously, trying to hide the tears spilling over.

 _“Yes…”_ she breathed. She snatched her wrist back, pushing through the crowd and away from the gorgeous stranger.

_It wasn’t him. It will **never** be him. _

**Q**

Naminé was drying her eyes and walking around aimlessly when she bumped into someone. She was rather sick of bumping into people. She readied herself for a confrontation, but all she felt was a hand on her shoulder and then a quiet, “Are you alright?”

She looked up, gasping when she saw the guy that she had run into at the fountain. The blond started speaking before he could stop her, “Oh, sorry for bumping into you earlier at the fountain. And then I did it again just now.”

“What?” the voice that answered her wasn’t the guy that was comforting her, it came from the guy’s black-haired companion. She looked up; the one that had his hand on her shoulder was tall, with spiky sandy-haired locks and dark blue eyes. His companion had jet black hair, and strange golden eyes.

He scratched his head, “I wasn’t over at the foun…”

“Are your eyes legit, or are they contacts?”

He pushed her away, “Personal space, kid.”

“Oh c’mon, Vanitas. That’s the most enthusiastic response about your eyes that anyone’s ever had.”

She was enchanted with the laugh of the blond haired one; he had such a rich tone. Vanitas’ voice was lower and more menacing, but she believed it was mostly because he wanted it to be. He didn’t come off as a very friendly person. But somehow, she felt… _they_ felt familiar to her. With strangers, she was so closed off, but she felt like she knew them already. Ventus already had an incredibly familiar aura about him, and she generally got along with people like Vanitas better than she did with people like Ventus.

“Hi, I’m Ventus, but you can call me Ven. This is Vanitas. You can remember _him_ as ‘the one with a stick up his ass’,” she smiled cautiously when Vanitas hit Ven over the head and complimented that with a rather rude, ‘you _wish_ you had this stick up your ass’.

“I’m Naminé,” she still kept her tone rather level, but her iciness wasn’t deterring either of them.

“Is there any particular tag line we should offer you?” Vanitas offered sarcastically.

Naminé’s response to sarcastic comments was to answer them. It often pissed people off, even if it made people think she was a dumb blond at times. But that was mostly when others couldn’t process the fact that she was teasing them on purpose.

“‘That chick likes gummi worms’?”

He shrugged, “That works. We haven’t seen you around, Naminé. Are you new?”

“Yes, I’m working with Never Was studios on their new movie.”

Vanitas clicked his fingers and made a ‘Oh, I know you’ face before pointing at her, “Hey, you’re Luxord’s cousin, right?”

“Right,” she smiled when Ven’s expression changed from confused to surprise.

“That means that you’re my leading lady.”

“Really?” Vanitas suddenly went from playful to suspicious, eyes narrowing dangerously. She caught his glance, and then watched as Vanitas’ gaze slowly shifted towards the smiling Ventus. She caught on immediately, gushing like a teenager at the assumed information.

“Yeah. I mean, my boyfriend wasn’t happy that I was going to have to act with such a good-looking guy, but he said he was okay with it.” She watched in amusement as Vanitas let out a sigh of relief, and Ven perked up even more. 

“Your last name is worshiped here, so that means you might have a famous boyfriend back home?”

“Ah, relatively,” she lied, knowing that she’d backed herself into a corner.

“What’s his name?”

“Um… Neku Sakuraba.”

“Hey!” Ventus jumped up and down excitedly, “I love that guy’s music! My brother loves him even more. You have to introduce us!”

_Oh no. Neku is **here**. I hope he hasn’t blurted his single status to anyone yet. Then again, knowing him he hasn’t spoken to anyone he hasn’t had to. Time to call in the favour he owes me._

Vanitas was still looking at Naminé with suspicion, even when he tapped Ventus’ shoulder and he calmed down, “Ven, Sakuraba is working on the soundtrack for the new film.”

“You allowed your boyfriend to work in the same film as you?” Ven asked Naminé with confusion.

“Well, struggling artist’ have got to take as many gigs as they can get, right?” she laughed nervously, pulling out her phone, but before she could dial Neku’s number, Vanitas was hauling her somewhere.

“C’mon, let’s go meet your boyfriend at my uncle’s studio.”

“What?!”

“Mhmm. Xemnas is my legal guardian, and also the owner of Never Was studios. It was good that we found you,” Vanitas explained.

“Yeah,” Ven agreed, “It was such a weird coincidence meeting you here.”

**Q**

“Neku, you know that favour you owe me? Starting your recording _career_ and all,” she pressed her back against the plastered wall of Never Was studios. Ventus and Vanitas were under the impression she’d gone to find the bathroom. She was speaking in a voice that was overly sweet, hoping Neku would get the point.

_“What do you want?”_

“I need you to pretend you’re my boyfriend.”

 _“What? Why?”_ she knew she heard alarm in his voice.

“Because there are _creeps_ looking at me, and one tried to grab me in an alley-”

_“Lightning and Snow taught you self-defense.”_

“-And everyone I recognise is asking me about _you-know-who_ , and I just don’t want to deal with it… _Please?_ ” she begged. She knew as soon as she used ‘you-know-who’ Neku would give in. He seemed heartless, but really, he was anything but. “I promise you, as soon as you get a girlfriend, we can break off this imaginary relationship.”

_“I don’t **want** a girlfriend.”_

“Exactly. I don’t want a boyfriend, so we can both use the excuse, can’t we?”

 _“What do I tell Shiki?”_ she could hear the turn in his voice. She’d already won! Even if she hadn’t mentioned you-know-who, she knew he would have given in anyway.

“I’ll text her. Is that a yes?”

He made an over exaggerated sigh noise and made a small sound in the affirmative, but before she could start rejoicing, he snapped, _“Rules!”_

“Yes?”

_“Title only. No kissing. No handholding. No gross cutesy behaviour. And I am **not** becoming your servant because of it.”_

“Works for me. That’s the relationship that we have now.”

_“Yeah. That’s what ‘title only’ thing means.”_

“Good. I’ll text Shiki, and I’ll be at your end of the studio in five.”

_“What? I-”_

She hung up on him texted Shiki as she made her way back to where Ventus and Vanitas were waiting for her.

 **To:** Shiki  
 **From:** Nami

Just so you don’t get confused, Neku and I are pretending to be a couple. Play along, okay?

 **To:** Nami  
 **From:** Shiki

lol y?

 **To:** Shiki  
 **From:** Nami

Long story. I’ll explain later.

 **To:** Nami  
 **From:** Shiki

ur just setting urself up 4 distaster. imma sit back & watch, k?

 **To:** Shiki  
 **From:** Nami

Love you too.

 **To:** Nami  
 **From:** Shiki

& laugh. sit back & laugh

“Geez, you took your time, didn’t you?”

“You’re so charming Vanitas, I’d love to see how you’d handle being a female for a few months.”

“Normally, when people talk about switching genders, they use a few days,” the black-haired male raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Pregnancy doesn’t happen overnight you know,” she retorted, smirking when she saw Ventus’ eyes light up.

“Did you just call me a slut?”

“You said it, not me.”

Never Was looked exactly like it did back at the theatre back home. There were other movies going on at once, so there were actors, assistants, props and other assortments running around as well. They had to go through a few sets to reach the one being used for the movie ‘Singing Blues & Ocean Hues’, and that was when she ran into Luxord.

Their meetings didn’t gather enough emotion to really be worth anything more than a quick ‘Hello’, so that’s what she did. He surprised her by introducing her to some of his friends.

“Ah, Naminé, good to see you. These are my colleagues.”

He turned waved his hand at five men, all looking eccentric and very menacing, if you asked her. They all looked really cool in their own way. “This is Axel; he’s in charge of special effects. The strange one next to him is Demyx; he’s working with your friend Neku in music. There’s Zexion, he’s in charge of script. This is Xigbar; he’s second in charge of the entire enterprise and Vanitas’ old man.”

“I’m not old!”

“Yes you are,” Vanitas smirked.

“And then there’s Marluxia, and yes, his hair is dyed. He is the casting director.”

She all offered them a quick hello, too uncomfortable around these strangers to act as she had in front of Vanitas and Ventus. Instead, she plastered on a grin and asked to be taken to Neku.

Ventus said he needed to find someone, so Vanitas took her alone.

“Hey, were you being serious about the entire boyfriend business?” Vanitas questioned.

“If you’re worried that I’m going to steal your little boy-crush, don’t worry. I’ve got my own,” she patted his shoulder and told him to lead the way.

They were almost at the recording studio when she saw a head of familiar red hair, deciding to waltz up to Shiki and say hello. Vanitas looked at her crazily as she walked up to her, and a second before she tapped the girl’s shoulder, she realised that there was something a little off about her.

“Hi Shiki.”

The girl turned around and Naminé’s smile turned into a frown when she realised her mistake, “Who _is_ this Shiki girl? I’ve been mistaken for her two times already.”

Sure, she _looked_ like Shiki, but her eyes were blue and her voice was completely different, plus she had an attitude that Naminé was quickly finding herself to dislike.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone else.”

“That’s right,” she answered, puffing out her relatively flat chest, “because what kind of dumb name is ‘Shiki’ anyway? I’m incomparable to any other girl, not Shiki, and not some tacky Barbie doll like you.”

_“Excuse me?”_

“You heard me,” Kairi smirked, looking Naminé up and down. “I bet Shiki dressed you. Is that how prostitutes dress where you come from? Must be some high end place.”

“You’re right,” Naminé growled, “because we can’t have our rent girls dressing anywhere _near_ as tackily as people like you.”

_“What?!”_

The blond couldn’t _believe_ this girl! How could she be so rude, straight up? Naminé had made _one_ mistake, and she had called Shiki out for absolutely nothing, and then called Naminé a whore. What kind of city _was_ this?

She one girl by her side, a black-haired girl, and then a brown-haired girl with green eyes. They were both very pretty, but were looking at Naminé with such judgement and disgust. She decided she didn’t like them either.

“Listen new girl,” Xion hushed, stepping in front of Kairi, “just tone things down and step aside, you’re not a threat to our place unless you announce yourself to be.”

“What _place?_ ” Naminé shrugged her shoulders, “Is this about the lead role? Because I thought the casting director already had that set in stone.”

“You’re playing the lead role?” the red-head made another disgusted face and Naminé cringed at her cattiness. She wasn’t going anywhere in life with an attitude like that.

“I’m just here to find-”

“Nami,” Neku pushed through the small crowd that had gathered around them to stand by Naminé’s side, “C’mon, I thought you got lost.”

“Oh man, the cute new hottie is _your_ friend?” Kairi asked in dismay, giving Neku a predatory smirk, which he cringed away from.

The orange-haired male intertwined their fingers and held them up, “Boyfriend,” he corrected, but said it in such a dismissive tone that it looked twice as cool as declaring it to the heavens. Naminé gave Kairi and Xion a sarcastic smile before sticking her tongue out at them as Neku led her away.

“Aww, Neku, you broke your rules for me.”

“You _owe_ me now, Kiryu.”

**Q**

“I was in _love_ with her. It is _cruel_ to place me in such a close position to her now.”

Cruel was an understatement. He wanted to shove a keyblade up the casting director’s ass. Knowing Marluxia though, he was used to that on a regular basis.

“Suck it up, Roxas, it’s not like you actually have to make direct contact.”

“ _Yes,_ I do! What if Ven isn’t there?”

“You’re just a stunt actor,” the brunet rolled his eyes, grinning at Roxas’ over reaction. The blond in question was bent over his bed looking underneath it. He rolled off and checked his drawers. The spiky-haired brunet observing him raised an eyebrow before his face split into a large grin. “Exactly how good is this cat at hiding?”

 _“Very,”_ Roxas answered, voice breaking out into a low growl, “I don’t even know what I did to her this time. She just doesn’t like me. Maybe I should have left Kiara at Xion’s house.”

“Are you kidding?” Hayner piped up, opening the doors to Roxas’ balcony and then peeking into the hallway, “You two fight over her like a divorced couple. You can’t let her win.”

Roxas heaved himself up and raised an eyebrow at him, placing his cheek in his fist, “Dost my ears deceive me, Hayner, or are you actually on my side?”

“Man your new neighbour is insanely hot.”

“Annnd now we’ve lost him,” Pence dropped his head, as if this was actually some kind of irregular occurrence.

“Is it a guy, or a girl?”

“A girl, and wow, those legs go on forever…” Hayner was drooling. Typical.

“Pence are you actually going to _help_ me with Kiara, or are you going to stand there and laugh at me?”

Pence was a nice guy, but not as nice as everyone presumed. He could indulge in a little cruelty as well, “Stand here and laugh.”

“ _Kiara!_ I swear to god if you don’t come back, then I’m going to forgo feeding you for an entire week,” he growled, looking under his desk before stalking over to his wardrobe. Kiara was a pretty cat, with a healthy coat of golden fur and bright brown eyes, but she was incredibly mischievous and very disobedient.

“It’s weird, normally she’ll come out for you after a few hours of hiding, but I haven’t seen her in a while. Hey, at least you’re not Xion. She says that Kiara goes missing for _days_ at a time with her.”

Xion and Roxas had been a couple, while he still lived with his parents. They’d been best friends since they were little, and he didn’t think it was that big of a deal when they got together, it was her idea. So he conformed to society’s idea of being a perfect boyfriend. But then he’d been kicked out of home, and he’d fallen in love with someone else. Now that he was single again, she wanted him back. Badly. And she was willing to step on anyone’s toes to get his attention. He’d had a brief infatuation with Rikku a little while ago, and Xion had publicly humiliated the poor girl. The blond girl hadn’t tried to talk to him since.

“Hey, maybe she’s lonely! You should buy another cat?” Hayner suggested and Roxas shook his head.

“Buying two cats for one single guy is the first step to becoming ‘the crazy cat guy’.”

“There is no such thing as a ‘crazy cat guy’. The male equivalent of a crazy cat lady is the old men that wave their walking sticks at you while yelling ‘get off of my lawn’ to young hooligans like us,” Pence laughed at Roxas’ bemused expression.

“Just _what_ do they teach you in ‘special’ school?”

“Haha, very funny.”

“In all honesty Roxas, I think you should stop focusing that much on Kiara and focus more on Xion. I mean, when you took on this job, it was because they’re offering a lot of money to the stunt double of the lead, but do you think you can act maturely around Xion? You have to act professional and stuff.”

“I love how you used ‘profession’ and ‘stuff’ in the same sentence- not even two words apart.”

“I’m trying to be a grown up here Roxas, but you’re making it very hard.”

“It’s always been harder for you. You’re insane.”

That’s what was wrong with the ‘normal’ ones; they looked _fine_ until you got to know them. Pence was one of those people, behind that cheesy grin hid some kind of insane maniac. He was never going to understand artists.

“It’s good to know you’ve instilled such faith in me,” Pence laughed before his phone went off. Roxas rolled his eyes again. Despite how different they were, Pence and Roxas got along pretty well. The blond was a naturally moody and snappy person, and Sora was level-headed and calm. 

“Pence… what kind of self-respecting teenager has stickers of orange flowers on their cell phone?”

The brunet looked left and right before focusing his gaze on Roxas, “Between you and me Roxas, I don’t think I respect myself very much. Hayner doesn’t classify running around with pot-pans over your head and bumping into walls self-respecting either, but he still does it. Besides, they were _Olette’s_ and I’m having trouble taking them off. Oh my god, where did Hayner go?”

“How are you still _intact?_ ” Roxas groaned, dragging his fingers down his face. He resigned to finding his missing cat later. “Let’s go get slushies or something… Maybe Kiara will be here when I come back.”

“Yay! Slushies!”

They were at Sunset Terrace sipping on Sea-Salt slushies, enjoying the afternoon sunshine when Pence received another text. He had two hands, so Roxas didn’t understand how hard it was to get the phone out of Pence’s jeans. He laughed at the ridiculous display while Pence tried to read his text message.

“Aren’t we Mister Popular today?”

In truth, Roxas had purposefully turned his phone off and left it at home. He didn’t like using it, so he was always leaving it and running into difficult scenarios later on.

“Oh my moogle-!”

See? Mental.

“One of our friends from elementary school’s come back from Bodhum.”

“New Bodhum is a high class place.”

“No,” Sora shook his head, “Academia, which is right next to New Bodhum, is the high class place. Actually, she lives in Academia, but she spends most of her free time in Bodhum because she goes to Eraqus’ School there.”

“Really?” Roxas yawned, uninterested. She sounded like another Xion. He didn’t need to deal with a girl like her.

“Yep! She’s working at Never Was now; she’s playing the lead in the movie we’re starring in!”

“What?!” Okay, so Roxas was interested, but it was only because he didn’t want to deal with a spoilt rich girl. Maybe her stunt actor would be nice. He hoped. He didn’t want to handle prissy divas along with Xion. That was the side of show business he really hated.

“That’s pretty bold; I didn’t think Naminé was the kind of person that would leave her home.”

Roxas spat out his drink, flying drops of crystallised blue spraying all over the side walk. The blond was very used to the strange looks that people were giving him. He had quite the reputation and Twilight Town as a trouble maker, but it wasn’t like he was looking for it, it just always seemed to find him. 

“Roxas! Stop wasting food!”

“Naminé… _Kiryu?_ ”

“Yep! You’ve heard of her?” Pence asked him sarcastically, “Well then again, it’s kind of hard not to, considering who her father is, right?”

“Yeah… She lived here until third grade. She’s… she’s the reason I want to be a musician.”

“C’mon Roxas, this is _great!_ ”

“No,” Roxas shook his head, blowing the bangs out of his eyes.

_It would be terrible. I **hate** that girl._

She was the epitome of the phrase ‘Life isn’t fair’. So while she ran around pretending she was oblivious to her money and talent, he was left to rot in her shadow. Roxas held one Hell of a grudge, and the one that he harboured for Naminé was an evil, jealous entity that ate him up from the inside out. He’d managed to forget her all these years, but now she was just going to waltz back into his life and screw it up. There wouldn’t be that much to screw up in the first place, he had already been kicked out of home and alienated from his friend group, what else could she do to ruin his life? _Oh,_ she could be the bloody _star_ of his next job film. Brilliant.

Pence didn’t hear him, nor his hateful inner monologue; of course, he was too busy wondering why the fountain in the courtyard had become so popular, digging into the crowd for a closer look. The blond almost started hyperventilating when he realised what was happening. _Neku Sakuraba_ was performing by the fountain edge, with a simple guitar and his _amazing_ vocals. Sitting next to him was a red-headed girl that reminded Roxas of Kairi, passing around a large hat full of munny.

Roxas was a _huge_ fan of Neku’s work, owning a copy of _The World Ends With You_ himself, even if it had been distributed by the Kiryu recording company. He was about to come closer for a better look at the musician when something crashed into him from the side.

He caught a thin, delicate wrist in his hand as he turned to the side, observing the girl that had lost her balance… She was _beautiful,_ with curving platinum hair that looked like spun gold, flawless pale skin and wide, lake blue eyes. But, her gaze was misted over, as if she wasn’t entirely _there._

She trailed the tips of her fingers along his jaw, muttering a name –in a voice so fine- so quietly, that he _almost_ missed it.

He narrowed her eyes, squeezing her wrist.

“What did you call me?”

What kind of name was that?

His voice seemed to snap her out of her dream, because her eyes met his and immediately started to mist over. She squeezed her eyes shut and tears clung to her eyelashes. He stared at her in alarm. Like any guy, he didn’t know what to do when girls cried, and he didn’t even _know_ her.

“Sorry,” his heart ached for her when she released a sob, “I… I thought you were someone else.”

“H-hey…” he murmured tentatively. “Are you okay?”

She closed her eyes again, nodding her head vigorously, trying to hide the tears spilling over.

“Yes…” she breathed. She snatched her wrist back, pushing through the crowd until Roxas couldn’t see her anymore. He didn’t recognise her. Perhaps she was new in town.

He shrugged his shoulders, noticing that Neku was gone now. He growled in irritation.

“How bizarre.”

**Q**

When Roxas returned from his apartment later that evening, he was speaking with Marluxia, because Marluxia knew absolutely everything that happened wherever he was. Apparently he gossiped where he whored, because he’s slept with a girl that knew this guy that heard from his boss who worked in music and had a contact to an associate who knew Neku’s manager that he was working on the sound track for the movie Roxas was going to be working on.

He had a moment to fanboy over meeting one of his idols as he opened his door, pulling out his copy of _The World Ends With You_ from one of the massive stacks of CDs he owned. If he was going to deal with a girl he hated, then at least he could meet a musician he loved. It was two pluses against a few minuses, he would still have to work with his ex and Naminé, but he could work with Neku Sakuraba and get money on the side. It was a pretty sweet deal. He wouldn’t have been able to land the job if he wasn’t friends with the building blocks of Never Was studios. So he should have been considering himself lucky instead of doomed.

“You know what, Kiar-Oh yeah.”

He still didn’t know where Kiara was. He called her name again, and this time he received an answering mew. He walked out to his balcony and called her name. Kiara answered from the next balcony over.

He rolled his eyes… It was _just_ like Kiara to wander off into other people’s apartments. He jumped over the railings between both of the balconies and looked inside to make sure no one was home. The place wasn’t organised yet, there were just a bunch of luggage’s surrounded by pet/art supplies.

 _“Kiara,”_ he hissed, checking the bathroom to see if anybody was inside. There was no one, but he finally managed to locate his cat. There were some drawers which seemed to be the only thing his new neighbour had organised yet, and… _inside(?)_ the drawer were two cats.

_Odd much?_

Okay… so his neighbour kept her cats inside her… is that her underwear drawer?

The cat that he didn’t recognise was a dark coffee brown feline with green eyes, and he seemed perfectly accommodating of his own cat, Kiara, who was draped over the strange feline like she owned him. They were very affectionately pressing their heads into each other’s necks when he tried to pry her away. She hissed at him and swiped her paw at his hand. The second time he tried to scoop her out of the underwear drawer the door clicked and opened before he had the time to dive under the bed.

“Oh my god…”

_Holy shit!_

His neighbour was the super-hot girl that had run into him at the fountain! There she was, looking absolutely furious –with no trace of the sadness and crying he saw before- as she pulled a flute case from her belongings and positioned it like she would a baseball bat.

“You have _three_ seconds to explain what you’re doing with your hand in my underwear drawer before I tell the landlady.”

“You don’t remember me?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

 _“Yes!”_ she cried, “you’re the pervert that snuck into my apartment to look at my bras.”

_Oh, she doesn’t remember me from the fountain but-Oh fuck!_

She swung the flute at his head, barely missing it by centimetres. He felt sorry for the poor instrument. But he felt sorrier for himself as he ducked her blows, scrambling around the room frantically. He jumped across the bed and she ditched her heels, catching him in her corner. She was about to swing again, and he readied himself for her blow when her eyes caught sight of his chequered black and white bracelet.

“Oh my god… I _do_ remember you!”

“You _do?_ ”

“Yes! You’re _Roxas!_ ”

Okay… he wasn’t expecting that answer. How did a random girl that bumped into him at the fountain know who he was? He’d never see her before.

“How am I supposed to forget the boy that made Kindergarten Hell for me? You were always putting gum in my hair and spilling juice on my paintings.”

He looked at her with increasing confusion before the visual image and the words started to sink in. His gut sank and his pulse turned cold as he realised in that second, exactly what had occurred.

“Oh fuck. You’re _Naminé!_ ”

His insanely hot neighbour was _Naminé_. Naminé, the girl that he’d _hated_ for four years, and continued to hate for ten more. Naminé, the girl that had challenged his dreams. Naminé, the girl that had turned him into a bitter, cynical _wreck._

“Get _out._ ”

“But my _cat-_!”

“What about your cat?”

He pointed in the underwear drawer and she put down the flute as she came to examine the situation. Her eyes softened at the site, but they turned hard again when she turned back to Roxas.

“Just take her out.”

“Like the thought didn’t occur to me,” he growled sarcastically as he tried again. Kiara was still very reluctant to move.

Naminé sighed in exasperation before saying, “Just let her sleep here then.”

“What? With you? No.”

“Not with me, you idiot. That’s my cat, if you hadn’t noticed.” She growled, and he wondered how this could have been the girl crying at the fountain, she seemed so different now. “What do you think I’m going to do? Eat her?”

“Most likely.”

“Just get out, Roxas. I’ll give her back to you when she’s awake.”

He got up and walked to the door, glaring at her over his shoulder, “Fine.”

It slammed shut and she let out another aggravated huff.

_“Fine.”_


	3. sparkfire

* * *

**Quiver**

_“The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice that which we are for what we could become.”_ ~Charles DuBois

**Q**

_“Whoa, really?”_

_“Yes. Most have a pre-conceived image of society’s classic rich girl that I felt it would be easier to conform to a stereotype, and surprise people when they realise something like this.”_

_“Naminé. Hydraulic engines make better sense than society ever will. It’s awesome to know.”_

_“Awesome to know what?”_

_“That you’re not just like every other girl I know… You’re… unusual in my eyes. Several different mixes of the unexpected.”_

**Q**

_sparkfire_

She answered the door at seven o’clock in the morning, two hours until she needed to be in the studio for the pre-production hype. She was already dressed, being used to waking up at six in the morning to prepare for school, the film schedule was easily adaptable. She had been awake since five, and after showering, dressing and unpacking all of her things, setting up her laptop and bringing out all of the pet supplies she set up her PlayStation 3 and started working on instant noodles.

Her father had already provided the furnishing for her apartment; an interior decorator had asked her about the colour scheme prior to her trip. She’d settled on a simple blue and white colour scheme, but she was planning on getting items to personalise it while she was here. There was a space next to the television that was just spare room, so she’d converted that into a makeshift art studio, settling a small array of paints, pastels, pencils and her near the wall in shelves. Her architect had been nice enough to provide a corkboard on a spare piece of wall where she immediately pinned five pictures down.

One of them was a picture of NORA, Snow, Gadot, Lebreau, Yuj and Maqui. The next was another group image of Lightning, Serah, Snow, Hope and an extension of friends that hadn’t been able to say goodbye at the airport; Fang, Vanille, who wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye even if they could make it, plus Sahz and Dahj, an Academia pilot and his son, who she babysat from time to time. They were currently visiting the country of Spira, but had sent an email with their well wishes. The third was a picture of her friends from Shibuya plus her brother, Shiki, Neku, Joshua and herself. There was an image of their family when she was six years old, her mother, her father Joshua and herself.

She was hesitant about pinning down the last image. She simply stared at it for ten minutes, unable to snap out of her trance until her tears curved her cheek and hit her lip. Naminé pinned the picture down, stroking it once and then wiping her eyes, moving to her instant noodles and checking her reflection in the glass of the oven. She un-paused the video game, which happened to be Assassin’s Creed at this point in time, and walked about the room as she waited for her noodles to cook.

That was when someone knocked on her door.

She answered it wearing a white silver-printed tank top, a black blue-lined fold over blazer, a red tartan skirt with lace trimmings, high-heeled ankle boots… and a white wireless PS3 controller. She looked strange to Roxas, to say the least.

“What do you want?” her gaze drifted up and down once again, evaluating exactly how much Roxas had changed over the ten years she had been gone. He was definitely not what she’d envisioned from the kid she’d known when she’d gone here. Then again, her own personal bias decreed that he’d grow up to be some ugly loser, but _damn_ was she wrong. Roxas was _hot_ with a lithe body that was probably trained in _some_ kind of sport. Probably basketball if he’d still kept with the program. His hair was spiked in an unruly manner that was just _so_ attractive to her, and his _eyes…_ goddamn. He looked like… Ventus… but how come she hadn’t seen the similarities before? There was a hard _edge_ about Roxas she couldn’t find when she was speaking to Ventus, but it would explain the familiarity she felt around the other, much nicer blond.

“My _cat,_ Kiryu. I need to hand her over to her other owner today,” Roxas answered unenthusiastically, before he examined the controller, looking big and clunky in her small, delicate hands. He raised an eyebrow, examining her with a narrowed gaze, “You have a PS3? Whose is it?”

She looked at him weirdly, a small incline of her head, before stepping aside, “ _Mine,_ of course. Just get… um what’s your cat’s name?”

“Kiara-” he examined the room as he stepped inside, regarding the painting easel with a small smile, “What are you playing?”

“Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood- and what’s it to you?”

He looked at the controller wistfully, “It’s just I don’t get to play unless I crash at Hayner or Pence’s place-” he didn’t bother explaining who those people were, he probably knew she remembered the both of them, or that she’d met with Hayner yesterday, “What’s your cat’s name?”

“Kovu. Why are you sharing your cat with someone else?”

“That’s a weird name. She’s my ex, we got her together.”

The cats were far too sleepy to fight off Roxas’ hands finally bringing Kiara out of their embrace. Naminé waited by the island in her kitchen for her noodles while still trying to finish her assassination contract. Kiara was on Roxas’ shoulder as he passed her on the way to the door.

“Keep your damn balcony locked.”

“Keep your _own_ damn balcony locked.”

He watched her play for a little longer, the character on the screen was trying to beat someone with a lot more armour than herself, and she was quickly running out of medicine.

“You’ve got to dodge and break his defences; it’d work if you were using a dagger instead of a sword too.”

“Get out, Strife.”

Roxas smirked at her before walking out of the door. Naminé growled before trying Roxas’ technique, finding the enemy dead within seconds.

_Damn._

**Q**

She met up with Neku and Shiki immediately after entering the studio; it seemed that they were already immersed with work. She’d missed the original get-together the entire crew had by a day, so they were just going to work around that. She met with Luxord and he gave her a copy of the script to study but she had to meet with Xemnas before production could even start. They were about to start the period of pre-production hype.

She asked around for directions to one of the training rooms where she was supposed to meet Xemnas, the director. He was a tall odd-looking man with tanned skin and silver hair.

“Good morning, Naminé Kiryu, it is good of you to join us,” she sensed that was sarcasm behind the tone, meaning he was probably annoyed she hadn’t arrived on time. She simply plastered on a smile and shrugged, hoping she could get away with it this time. Given that it was only the first offense, and something she could have blamed on outside events entirely, Xemnas turned the blind eye and introduced someone.

“These two are Cloud Strife and Yuffie Kisaragi, they are the trainers working with actors for the fight and chase scenes. You will be practicing with them today, as well as some of your co-stars. The head action director should be along soon.”

“Thanks,” she dipped her head in acknowledgement, watching as he made his way out of the training room.

“Why are you here?” the small black-haired woman asked her, examining her form, “You’re the actress, not the stunt actor.”

“I do my own stunts,” Naminé explained with a shrug and the both of them looked at her surprised. “Hey, I realised your last name is Strife, are you related to-?”

“Did either of my brothers trouble you?” Cloud asked, and his voice sent shivers down her spine, it was so sensually soft. Cloud was a looker too, with an amazing body and a face that was the perfect mixture between feminine and masculine features.

“Roxas snuck into my apartment to look in my underwear drawer,” she stated abruptly, causing the older blond’s eyes to widen.

“Hmm…” Cloud nodded his head and crossed his arms, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t worry, Naminé,” Yuffie smiled kindly, “Cloud’ll probably have a few words to say to Rox when he comes in.”

 _Roxas is coming in?_ “Why would he be doing that?”

“Because Roxas is Ventus’ stunt actor,” Yuffie explained, making Naminé’s blood run cold. God _dammit!_

Not only did she have to deal with that asshole being her neighbour, but now he was all up in her _job_ as well? This was fucking brilliant.

“So, tell us what you specialise in… please don’t tell me you prettied up your application,” Yuffie groaned. She was being rather dramatic.

“I’ve been taking gymnastics and dance for twelve years. I’ve been doing parkour for six years and taking self-defense for five,” she counted off the achievements easily, relishing the looks of surprise from the both of them.

“No offence, we can understand the need for self-defense, being who you are, but why would you need to learn parkour?” Yuffie asked.

“I have my reasons,” Naminé murmured defensively, looking away when Cloud elbowed Yuffie in the ribs.

“Don’t worry, it’s good,” he assured her. “Yuffie performs free-running better than I do, so she’s going to design a course, and you’re going to follow it.”

She watched the ninja-like girl speed around the room performing flips and moves she hoped she could still perform, since she’d been rather lazy as of late. She changed into a pair of sneakers she’d brought with her, and stretched before sprinting into the course. The training room was split into sections, each prepared for different forms of action scenes. Yuffie had firstly vaulted over some of the pre-prepared police barriers, Naminé one upped her by starting with a front-flip as she vaulted over pass, running across a section of the training room which actually looked like a real suburban area, climbing up a wall, reaching the side and leaping for the top of the wall, cat crawling across it to hop from dislocated pole to pole before wall-running into a precarious skid.

“Wow,” Yuffie smirked, when Naminé came to a halt, “nice work kid. You aren’t the kind of girl we’re expecting that from.” The blond nodded, releasing a few pants and leaning on her knees. “So what kind of self-defense were you taught?”

“Street fighting…” Naminé muttered, but when she realised the looks her instructors were giving her she shook her head, “I mean, it started off like that… but then it was refined through Guardian Corpse instruction.”

“What the- _Guardian Corpse_?” Cloud raised an eyebrow. Deciding better of it, he let it drop. “Well it looks like you’re more than qualified, but how much stage fighting have you learnt in class?”

“Not much,” she answered, crossing her arms over chest, “I was always chosen for the delicate ‘maiden-in-distress’ roles.”

“Understandable,” Yuffie nodded. “Well, it’s good you can do both of them. You’re going to need both for this part. According to our instructions, your character has to deal with gang violence caused by Ventus’ character’s mother. We’re going to work on the free-running scenes first, because they’re earlier on in the movie.

“Oh, and Naminé?” Yuffie murmured.

“What?” she replied, pulling up her gaze slowly to catch the brown eyes of her instructor.

“They shouldn’t have judged you like that.”

She sighed, a touch of a smile on her lips as she turned around and shrugged her shoulder.

“Their loss.”

**Q**

When Roxas walked into the training room, he firstly noted Cloud sitting down on one of the mats looking tired, and then Yuffie speaking to… _Naminé?_ When did that happen? Why was she there?

“What are you doing here, Cat-napper?”

“Pervert,” she fired back immediately, making him narrow his eyes and bare his teeth threateningly.

“Naminé is her own stunt actor, that’s why she’s here,” Yuffie smiled. Cloud raised an eyebrow at his brother, and Roxas looked to the floor. It seemed he’d gotten the pervert comment. Naminé had probably disclosed exactly how they had their reunion scene… Over a pile of girly panties.

Epic.

The platinum blond was a little waif of a girl, very thin, very beautiful, very delicate-looking. How could she possibly be her own stunt actor? She graced the floors in her sky-scraper heels with the flowing finesse of a walking willow tree. He could imagine she looked like one whenever her sleeves billowed, twirling like a ballerina in a hurricane leaving behind marks of sand to fade away in whistling winds. Even though he really didn’t like Naminé, far be it from him to call her ugly, she was absolutely enchanting. And he couldn’t imagine her as the kind to gruff up and perform parkour, let alone fight scenes- she was the kind of girl he assumed would never work up a sweat.

She was proving him right now, appearing in skirts and blazers, tight tops and high heels. Didn’t she know that performing any basic fight movement was compromised by the height of alleviated heels?

He fixed Naminé with an examining look, narrowing his eyes a fraction and blinking curiously. Of course, he could wait to see how far she deviated from the pampered-rich-girl he’d come to see of her. It was possible that she had changed since the last time she’d seen him, after all, that had to be over, what- _ten_ years ago? Sand shifts and people change, Roxas knew he had. He would hope that she had as well. Not just physically.

Yuffie’s face split in half, as it always did when she smiled, beams like radiant sunshine lighting up the sullen atmosphere of the room, “C’mon. Spar with me.” She was speaking to Naminé. With her back faced to Roxas, he could see the sleek curves of her profile, long blond lashes fluttered like feathers when she blinked, bright locks cascaded when she nodded.

He positioned himself next to Cloud, crossing his arms over his chest as the blond girl stripped herself of the blue-trimmed blazer and the fancy laced skirt to reveal form fitting shorts, placing on socks and pulling some sneakers from her bag, leaving her heels cluttered by her purse.

The fight ended rather quickly. It was a clear loss for Naminé, who fixed Roxas with a murderous glare whenever he made a noise to distract her. Well, it had started off as a simple cough, but when he realised how easily the girl was distracted by his voice, he filled the room with unnecessary noise and she found herself pinned to the floor. The sandy blond grinned as Yuffie helped her up, wishing her well for their next match.

“Nice going, Princess,” Roxas snorted.

“I couldn’t help it,” Naminé replied icily, looking at Roxas through smouldering cerulean eyes under thick white-blond lashes, “Every time I see your discombobulated swine face, the image burns my retinas with toxic acid.”

“Funny that,” he replied instantly, “because it looked like you were _distracted_ by my good looks. One generally tries to avoid the visually unappealing.”

“It’s kind of like a car crash. It’s so terrifying, but you can’t look away.”

“You can’t _stop_ yourself from staring at me, Kiryu.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she pressed her chin further into her neck so her gaze became twice as intense. “You conceited jerk.”

“You’re a spoilt brat,” he replied, baring his teeth at her like a wolf ready to strike. “How did you even earn this role?” he pretended to contemplate it for a second, his lips turning up in a smirk, “Oh, that’s right. You’re Luxord’s cousin. How’d you get over here? Daddy’s money. Is there anything you _can_ do on your own? Or is the ice princess going to break when she realises she’s all alone?”

Naminé’s breath hitched, and an emotion he didn’t recognise flooded her eyes.

 _“Roxas,”_ his head snapped around when he registered the voice. A deep baritone. Distant but authorative. Leon. “That’s quite enough.”

Cloud, who was in between the both of them, narrowed his eyes at the Lead Action Choreographer’s sudden appearance. Of course it befuddled to think of such an unfavourable response from his older brother. Cloud and Leon used to be best friends, or the lone wolf equivalent, if that made _any_ logical sense at all. It probably didn’t. Leon and Cloud had been from different branches of the military, SeeD and SOLDIER, but they’d worked together for a specific long-term campaign during the Machina War in Zanarkand. The both of them pulled out before the war was lost, and applied for Hollow Bastion University together.

But… something went down between the both of them. Suddenly Cloud was moving to Twilight Town to be with the rest of his family, or at least Roxas because Ventus had been transferred to the Departure branch for Eraqus’ school of the gifted, without any explanation of what had happened. It was sad. He’d visited them in Hollow Bastion and Cloud would speak about Leon with such a fond expression, a lighter tone to his voice, a soft glow to his eyes. Most of his friends assumed he might have had a small infatuation on the brunet, but the SOLDIER never confirmed their suspicions.

When they found out Leon would be coming to work on this movie, he thought Cloud would be happy, but instead, he took every waking moment to sulk and send Leon dirty looks whenever his back was turned.

“Cloud, what is happening here?” Leon demanded, attempting (read: failing) to keep a professional demeanour. Unfortunately, Cloud had never been one for formalities.

“You’ve got a mouth, ask them,” he replied coldly, turning on his heel and walking out, shoulders rigid and fists clenched. Roxas thought he could see the ice-fog slipping from Cloud’s breath after the retort.

  1. Yuffie looked between the both of them with a pained expression, swaying awkwardly like one of the weird car-sale balloon men before picking up her sports bag and walking out after the blond, stopping a second to place a hand on Leon’s shoulder. “Sorry, Squally. There shouldn’t be this much tension between two friends that have just reunited.”     



Leon closed his eyes and sighed, looking so much older than the last time the blond had seen him. He was still as handsome, but it was as if he was living with a burden all these years. Carrying the guilt in a backpack that grew with regrets and tears spilling over his doubts. Cloud carried a similar weight, obvious through his blank stare and the odd shock of vulnerability from one night to another, months down the track. He knew his brother was fighting other inner demons, but a professional could never make him smile the way Leon had once upon a time.

“You’re Naminé Kiryu?” the brunet asked. Naminé nodded, reaching out her hand to shake the older man’s. Her hand was so tiny in his, like a white flower petal in a solder’s calloused grip. “I’m the Lead Action Choreographer. Leon. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but I’d be lying. We’ve met under tough circumstances. Yuffie probably drilled you. She’ll be giving me a report on your capabilities soon.”

The blond girl switched from vicious ice-queen to perfect China-doll the next, nodding her head silently as she started pulling her outfit together again. Roxas didn’t even know why he bothered to show up, if Cloud and Leon were going to blow up (it didn’t look like blowing up, but since it was _Cloud_ and _Leon_ ) at each other like this.

“You’re dismissed.”

Roxas watched her leave, sending one icy glare that knit knots of frost webs over his skin, before disappearing like a fanned wisp of smoke.

**Q**

Plans for lunch with Neku and Shiki went belly-up when she heard both of them had skipped lunch to work on their specific departments. Naminé was annoyed. She didn’t have any more friends to speak to, and those around she was barely acquainted with.

_Why am I worrying about this? I didn’t come here to make friends._

Well, her friends had other ideas.

“Naminé!” taken down by a flurry of brown and green, she almost toppled.

“Olette?”

“You remember me.” The girl in front of her was both different and the same. Same brown locks, same green eyes, same weird-but-charming-in-its-own-way voice. She was very beautiful. How could she forget? Olette was the only female friend she had before she’d moved to Academia.

After the standard introduction she’d also provided to Hayner and Pence, Olette invited her to lunch. In all honestly, she was hoping to go exploring by herself, but then she remembered her encounter with the guy from behind the alley way, and decided otherwise. If she wasn’t going to be with one of her friends, then she’d have a harder chance of getting away from the scumbags around the area.

“Great! We can join up with Pence and Hayner, and… another friend,” the brunet said the last part with great caution, but it was obvious by the girlish tremor in her voice who she was implying.

“You can just say Roxas’ name. Then I could have denied right away,” Naminé said. It was obvious that Naminé’s change from friendly and polite to complete and total ice-princess baffled the brunet, who was not used to seeing this side of her. Believe it or not, before she’d left for Academia, she always hung around what she now realised was a lollipop crowd, the kind of people that were always friendly and didn’t speak about the bad shit, admittedly, people that had a… generic taste in all the cultural aspects of life. Her time spent growing up in a city as dangerous as Academia, in contrast to the nice side of Twilight Town, had made her into a cynical, cold, bitch. So Olette wasn’t used to this transformation.

“Oh come on, Naminé. I know you and Roxas never really got along, but I’m sure this time you meet, it will be a different story.”

The blond narrowed her eyes, her voice dropping a smooth lower octave, “We’ve met already, and he hasn’t changed at all.”

“No. You have, I realise that. But I’m not taking no for an answer,” Olette told her determinedly, furrowing her eyebrows. “C’mon, I know all the best spots here; we can go to a usual place.”

“Great,” she drawled, “So I know where _not_ to go whenever I’m trying to avoid you.”

“Wow,” she grinned, “didn’t you develop an attitude when you were gone. C’mon, tell me who Naminé is now.”

“Fine,” the blond rolled her eyes, Olette’s pushiness reminded her of Snow, “If you insist.”

**Q**

The place that they were eating at was called ‘WildKat’, which was a cool lounge restaurant named because it was inside the clock tower standing over the station. Originally it had been a pretty high-class restaurant, but since teenagers dominated this part of Twilight Town it was changed into a hangout. Olette informed her that they were good friends with the owner, a cool, laid-back guy called Sanae.

“Sanae?” Naminé murmured, narrowing her eyebrows. “Sanae Hanekoma?”

The brunet rolled her eyes, “Hmm, of course you know him, you’re Naminé Kiryu.”

Naminé made a disapproving face at the assumption, but apparently the look was far more intense than she’d intended because Olette shrunk from the gaze. “Sorry, that was a dumb assumption.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Sanae used to live in Shibuya. He babysat… one of my friends when he was a kid. He moved three years ago, I think.”

“Yes,” Olette nodded, seemingly at ease, now that she had something to talk about. She was being cautious, because it seemed this new Naminé was a little easier to tick off. She was certainly different. “That was when WildKat appeared here. He doesn’t like many people knowing about it, so the front door to the restaurant is disguised as a maintenance closet.”

“That’s…” the blond found herself smirking, “so incredibly like him. That’s fucking epic actually. I can’t wait to see him.”

Olette’s eyes widened at the swear. Naminé smirked. She loved scaring people like that. They expected someone sweet and caring, empathetic and docile- well _fuck_ that. That was her, once upon a time, well _too bad_ not anymore. Sure, she hated who she was, but _damn_ she hated the fact that she pretended to be something she wasn’t even more.

“Aww, I’m sorry,” she smirked heartlessly, “does that offend you?”

“It doesn’t offend me; Roxas and Hayner swear like sailors, I’m just surprised.”

“Oh honey, you don’t know the half of it.”

“Half of what?” they were joined by Hayner, Pence and –to her immense displeasure- Roxas. Hayner was the one who spoke, eyeing Naminé up and down before offering them both a wide smile. Pence narrowed his eyes and elbowed Hayner in the ribs. “So what were you talking about?”

Naminé and Olette answered at the same time, the blond interrupting Olette’s rational “Nothing,” with a slightly-less-than-sane, “Batman’s speedos.”

The three boys gave Naminé alarmed looks, and she was satisfied with their shocked reactions until she saw Roxas’ smirk, “Expected of you.”

“How so?”

“I bet you’re glad that you have someone to discuss your chosen underwear styling.”

“Yes! Good idea Roxas, you and I can speak for hours about undergarments, seeing as you’ve already familiarised yourself with _mine._ ”

“What the-?” Hayner sent them both a ‘what the fuck’ look but they were so focused on each other they didn’t notice.

“And it wasn’t much to look at, Darlin’. Do you seriously shop in the women’s department?” he growled, a menacing glint in his eyes as he advanced towards her, now nose to nose with the platinum blond.

“Well then maybe I should borrow one of _yours_ , since you know so much more about the women’s department than I do. G-strings do suffocate the testicles, Honey.”

“Scared of slang, Princess?” Roxas growled threateningly.

“Having a vagina does not stop me from believing my balls are bigger than yours,” she snapped, ready to retort when he opened his mouth, but Pence stepped between the both of them and pushed them apart.

“Okay, so it’s safe to assume you guys have already met and are off to an incredibly bad start.”

“Pervert!”

_“Bitch!”_

“Let’s cool off with some drinks.”

“Yeah!” Olette clapped her hands excitedly as they headed inside the station to head to WildKat. “Naminé said she knew Sanae.”

“Really? Where from?”

The blond stopped a second, trying to calm down from her rebuttal with Roxas –the prick- as she remembered her explanation.

“He babysat one of my friends when he was a kid, back in Academia.”

“He never mentioned that to us,” Pence said.

“Yes he did,” Roxas replied. “Said he used to take care of Neku Sakuraba as a child. Lucky bastard.”

“Is Neku your friend?” Hayner asked Naminé enviously.

“The kids from Destiny Islands were saying more than that,” Pence grinned, a curious twinkle in his eyes, “they were saying he’s your boyfriend.”

Naminé let out a sigh, acting as if it wasn’t a big deal. The more stuck-up she looked, the better. Besides, they weren’t really _in_ a real relationship. “So what if he is?”

“Just goes to show his awesome music doesn’t have any direct correlation to his choice in hairy blond apes. Or did he agree to date you, after your father’s record company cut him a contract?” Roxas hissed.

“Says a lot, doesn’t it, Mr I-share-a-cat-with-my-ex?”

“You’re such a poser.”

“Bloody hypocrite.”

“Watch it, Kiryu,” he snapped.

“I don’t have to take orders from _you_ above all people, Strife.”

“Fuck you.”

“Go deep-throat a knife.”

“Hey!” Hayner exclaimed, pushing the riled up blonds apart. “Can you two act civil for five minutes?”

“I’ll be counting down the seconds,” Naminé sneered, her grimace turning into a tight-lipped frown as they ascended the stairs. Hayner tried to keep in lively with conversation, but only Olette and Pence were participating. The air between the two blonds was frigid.

“Well, hey, Snowflake,” Sanae greeted when he recognised Naminé. “Long time no see, eh? You’ve gotten bigger… not by much though.” Sanae was a skinny twenty-something guy who wore formal attire with sandals, which always baffled her. It seemed he hadn’t changed in the three years they were apart. “You’re here for the movie roll. Neku already informed me.”

“Good for you, always staying informed.”

“What he didn’t tell me, was that the both of you were _dating,_ ” he raised an eyebrow and Naminé sighed. Even though she didn’t really feel like it, she knew that Sanae knew better. She tilted her head to the side and raised one of her shoulders.

_It’s not true._

He winked lazily and made a click noise with his tongue.

_Gotcha, kiddo._

“So, what can I get my favourite regulars?”

“You’re just saying that,” Pence laughed merrily.

“You’re right, so you better tip me, got it?”

Five seconds after ordering, Naminé accidently swung her legs to get better adjusted, hitting Roxas’ leg in the process. Oh hell.

“Ouch, what was that for?!”

“Man up. It was an accident.”

“Sure it was.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and stomped violently on his sneaker.

_“HOLY FUCK-OW!”_

Naminé picked up her glass of water and started to sip, too slow to notice Roxas using his iPod to tip the bottom of the glass too high. The content of the glass split all over her shirt.

 _“Shit-kagghh!”_ she choked, spitting out the water and slamming down her cup, grabbing the saltshaker, tipping it into the glass and throwing it at Roxas’ face.

“Goddamit, I can’t open my eyes you stupid bitch!”

“That was the _point_ asshole!” she growled in exasperation, turning to the rest of her table with a slightly crazed look. She let out a breath as she watched Roxas struggle to clear the water from his face. “Well, it’s been fun, but this stupid git has proven I can’t go through one meal without making me want to dig out his eyeballs with a spoon. Maybe another time, yeah?”

Olette let out a sigh, completely ignoring Roxas as he flailed in the background, “What a disappointment. Okay, Naminé. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Roxas was still scrambling around for something to wipe his face with, so Naminé stuck her foot out and tripped him.

**Q**

_“You think bringing toys to school will make everyone like you?”_

_“And you think that being mean to me will make you popular?”_

_“You’re pathetic.”_

_“And you’re a nobody with no future!”_

_“I-I…”_

_“I can’t make friends, so I buy them. I’d do **anything** to escape this loneliness.”_

_“Well you can start by not looking down on everyone! You’re not above everyone else!”_

**Q**

Once upon a time, there were two children in a dark, scary town. A girl and a boy. The girl was lonely, and the boy was sad. They were friends, but he said he wanted to become a famous musician one day.

_“Music makes me feel… like everything could be alright… you know?”_

He said he was going to soar away from here.

_“I won’t be stuck here. I’ll make it big. I’ll have a better life.”_

Her father was a famous musician, and he left her by herself. She didn’t want that to happen to him…

_“Birds that don’t flap their wings will never leave the ground.”_

So she clipped his wings, and sealed him inside a cage.

**Q**

In her hands she held a small metal cage, a spiral base bottom and curling arcs of silver wire to form the bars. Inside sat a small blue origami crane. Roxas didn’t know she still had this. And he never would, after all, it was the last memento of a friendship that was doomed to end.

_“You’re not above everyone else!”_

_… Why am I so selfish?_

There was a knock at the door, and when she opened it, it was Roxas. He didn’t say a word, just simply bent down to pick up his cat, which had run to the door. She didn’t even notice that Kiara was in the apartment.

Before he closed the door on himself, she noticed his eyes were red, and a tear streamed down her cheek.

_Why must I always hurt him? I wouldn’t have to continue if he’d just stop fighting back._

**Q**

The following morning, Naminé had secured some early morning examinations from Leon himself, with the absence of the apparently-not-morning-people Cloud and Yuffie. Leon knew his stuff when it came to parkour, but Naminé hadn’t had such formal instruction- she learn free-running, which was a more fun, artistic version of the original art. Just like her education in street fighting, she couldn’t recognise the movements he was performing until he actually demonstrated them. She proved how much she knew, by how much she could perform. Leon wasn’t satisfied with her skills however, and proceeded to berate her on cinematic screenplay.

“Dammit!” she snarled, as she failed to land a proper laché from a bar.

Leon watched as she fell to the ground again, angrily stomping back to the bar she’d swung off of to have another go, when Roxas arrived.

“We need to get this move down. It’s in the opening cinematic, meaning it’s going to be one of the first moves in the film.”

“Can’t I just learn it later and they can edit it in?” she growled, completely ignoring Roxas as he dumped his gear bag, standing next to Leon and stretching.

“No. The problem is your wrists when you’re trying to propel yourself into the jump, they’re not flicking enough. Roxas will show you how.”

She noticed that today, Roxas’ eyes were better, but he couldn’t help but glare at her as he walked past. She observed what he was wearing; a really loose pair of jeans and tank top. She was also not in her best attire, clothed in a pair of short black tights and a flexible black and pink floral bralet. The blond, despite hating Roxas to the very depth of his soul, couldn’t help herself from watching the contour of his arm muscles as they moved, admiring the taut shapes.

“Kiryu.”

“What?” she snapped out of her observations and nodded as Roxas got his quick run up, grabbing onto the pole and propelling himself to the edge of the next false level of the artificial training grounds. She thought she caught all of the movements, but she wasn’t sure how she could improve on her own technique.

“And _that’s_ how you do it,” the cocky blond smirked as Naminé crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, whatever…” she pouted.

“Are you in awe of my finesse, Princess?” he gloated.

“Did you get that Naminé? After Roxas teaches you how to perform this laché, you’re going to be teaching him how to perform a proper bwist.”

“Bwist?!” Roxas’ eyed widened in alarm.

“Yes.”

“But yesterday, you couldn’t even perform basic sparring…”

“But now I can perform basic free running,” she nodded, as if it was all basic and Roxas was a baboon, “it all relates back to the fact that your face is so ugly it’s distracting.”

The blond boy made a face at her before telling her to perform the laché. She hopped up to the pole and tried to propel herself, missing the edge of the platform by a few centimetres. When she dropped to the floor, she slammed her fist into the wall, “I can’t do it!”

Roxas thought over how she did it in her head and turned to Leon, “I really don’t think she can, Leon. Did you see? She got most of the technique right, but she didn’t have enough power.” He turned back to Naminé, “You’re a little too small, Princess.”

She refused to grudgingly admit that Roxas was right, so she stayed silent.

“That’s true,” the brunet murmured. “Moves like the laché are designed for those with more power in their movement, while bwist was created for increased agility and movement perception. But you’re both very skilled, you can figure it out.”

The blond boy ran a hand through his hair before walking up to Naminé and grabbing onto the pole. He wasn’t quite tall enough that he could reach the pole without rising to the balls of his feet, but he could latch onto it easily enough. “The way I see it, since you have to place so much energy into reaching the pole in the first place, you think you can redirect the all of the force using your body. But Leon’s right, you have to jerk your wrists violently, and spring your arms into the swing.” He followed up the instruction by performing the move himself, effortlessly.  

Once he dropped down, Naminé followed the move instantaneously and still missed the mark by a few centimetres. She let out a crow of frustration as she dropped to the ground.

“This is still too high for her at the moment,” Roxas explained to the director, this time sincere in his comments as he turned back to her. “You’re going to need a little more power exercises before you can perform this laché.”

She nodded rotating her wrists as she looked around the room. Her lips turned down in a frown as she looked at the two men before her, “I’m not going to be able to teach Roxas how to bwist without stairs.”

“S-stairs?”

“Yeah,” she nodded tapping her lips.

“Are you sure, Naminé?” Leon said.

“Yeah, it’s easier for beginners to do it on stairs.”

“Are you kidding me?”

She shook her head, pursing her lips as she led them outside, “I think the stairs outside of the studio would be adequate.”

Naminé trotted outside, unaware exactly how cold it was until she was outside and she was wearing very revealing clothing. She rubbed at her skin, but all that did was raise more goose bumps along her skin. She narrowed her eyes when she realised that Xion and Kairi, those awful girls from yesterday, along with two other boys, were watching them, eating breakfast before they needed to get inside probably. There was a handsome silver-haired boy that gave Roxas a dirty look, which the blond beside her returned with a sarcastic smile. The other boy with them looked much more cheery, jogging over to them and greeting them with wide genuine smiles.

“Hi! I’m Sora! I’m Leon’s little brother.”

Naminé acknowledged him with a smile, nodding her head. “Naminé.”

“I know,” he dipped his head. “In the movie, I play the guy that has a crush on your character.”

“I look forward to working with you.”

The brunet turned to Leon, and for a second, Naminé wondered how they could be related. “I’ve got your breakfast order, Squall.”

“Thanks,” he said, taking a brown paper bag from the boy and a coffee in his other hand.

“What are you doing out here?”

“We’re practicing a move for the opening cinematic.”

“Oh, Naminé, you look cold!” Sora grinned, shrugging out of his cardigan. “Here, take mine for now.”

“Oh no,” she shook her head. She wouldn’t have minded taking Sora’s cardigan, in all honestly, but she could see Kairi glaring at her in the background, and she didn’t want to tread on anyone’s toes (even if they were perfectly manicured plastic toes).

“Yeah, Sora,” Roxas sniggered, “it’s too low class for this girl here.”

“No it’s not!” she growled at him.

“Don’t worry!” he insisted, “You can give it back whenever.”

“Seriously… um, Sora. I’ve been training for hours, and I’m all sweaty and stuff.”

“You can’t sweat when you’re cold. Don’t worry, you don’t smell.”

“For the love of Etro, Princess, just take it from him,” Roxas snatched the cardigan and threw it over Naminé’s shoulders. This time, Xion was glaring at her. Okay, so would it be safe to deduce that Kairi had a crush on Sora? And Xion liked Roxas? Was she his ex?

Naminé buttoned up the cardigan and thanked Sora again. It was a dark blue colour, well worn, definitely not the designer brands she was used to, but it had a charm about it. It was very loose on her, and the ends of it barely covered her fingertips, but she rather liked how warm it was. “Such a gentlemen.”

Sora blushed and stood back as she started to climb the stairs, “Are you handling their parkour again, Leon?”

“Naminé was instructed with free running. Roxas learnt parkour, so they’re both differently styled.”

“Wow! Naminé, you don’t look like the kind of girl to do this!”

Naminé quelled her irritation at the comment, forcing out a gritted smile, the smile fading when Roxas said, “I know right?”

“Shut up, Strife. In this case, _you’re_ the novice.”

“Too much Assassin’s Creed, Kiryu.”

“You play Assassin’s Creed too?”

“Sora, you can play twenty questions later,” Roxas smiled, patting Sora on the head. Naminé liked him, he was quite adorable, and there were traits in him that reminded her of someone a long time ago. Her lips curved into a natural smile and she dipped her head with a slow easy wink, which made his face flush.

She stretched a bit before running to the edge of the stairs and leaping off one leg, twisting her torso and performing two mid-air rolls before landing properly once again, straightening up. From where she was standing, she hopped off one leg and performed one mid-air flip-roll, spinning about in a circle as she came to a stop in front of Roxas.

“See? It’s easier to do it on the stairs to allow for more time. You have to make sure that as soon as you see the ground, you place your landing foot out. Keep your hands close to your torso.”

“I don’t want to do it on the stairs.”

“Well then try it on the grass, stupid.”

Roxas gave a real attempt, but he kept landing on his ass. Naminé saw it was because he was misjudging the time it took to land.

“As soon as you push yourself into the flip, immediately prepare for the landing. It’s very fast.”

“I _know_ that,” he growled.

“Well then _why_ do you always stack the landing?” she answered cattily.

“Because your face is so ugly it’s distracting!” She gave him a sarcastic smile, innocently toeing the back of his knees so he toppled into the grass. She laughed at his misfortune.

“Why don’t you try the stairs?”

“Because I will fucking _break_ something, Kiryu!”

“Have you seen the new Batman movie?” she asked randomly and out of the blue.

Roxas looked up at her from the grass, a look of confusion in his eyes as he got up, brushing grass from his hair. “No. I don’t have the money. I want to though.”

“Batman performed the best when he knew he had something at stake when he failed.”

“You’re insane.”

“C’mon, Roxas, ‘Birds that don’t flap their wings will never leave the ground’.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, and the recognition in his eyes revealed that he had in fact recognised the words. He released a growl at her, stepping up and climbing the stairs. He looked at the edge of the stairs for the longest time. There were about seven steps, so it was a little intimidating for a beginner. Naminé knew she could perform a triple bwist, but she remembered how scary it was to perform it the first time.

After a timid run up, Roxas performed the perfect bwist, landing with a slight jitter, but it was an amazing execution, and Leon nodded his satisfaction. Naminé stopped herself from smiling at the sense of accomplishment, gripping her elbows and turning back to their brunet instructor.

“What’s next?”

“Nothing. You’re on break until we have the rest of the screenplay written out. I’ll inform Xemnas of your progress, and then tell you when you start filming. Roxas, practice your bwist, and Naminé, you need to remember your lines.” With that, Leon left them to their own devices and the platinum blond released a breath she didn’t realise she was holding. Roxas started making his way back to the training room, but Naminé shrugged off Sora’s cardigan and went over to his friends to give it back to him.

“Thank you for this, Sora.”

“No problem, Naminé,” he beamed, completely oblivious to all of his friend’s death stares. “I’m looking forward to working with you!”

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows at her, but sent her a wicked smirk, “For sure.”

When she walked into the training grounds, she was stunted to realise that Roxas was already changing. Miles of sinewy, tanned skin reflected gloriously in the morning light and she felt her face heat up because of it. Well, two could play at that game. Her bag was right next to Roxas’, so she pranced up to it and started to undress as well. Hers was difficult because she needed to take off the bralet, so she placed her cardigan on and took the bralet off, replacing it with a proper one before taking the cardigan off.

She heard Roxas give an uncomfortable cough next to her, as he pulled on a pair of denim shorts. The platinum blond pulled on her stockings, her shorts and just finished pulling on a t-shirt as Roxas started walking out of the room.

“Hey, Kiryu…”

“What?” she answered, with a lot more malice in her voice than she had originally intended.

He paused a second at the door, waiting for her to join him. She hefted her bag onto her shoulder, crossing her arms over her chest. He smiled at what was written on there. Her shirt was grey printed with a picture of an angel with their hands over their eyes, a massive ‘DON’T BLINK’ written right next to it.

“Nice shirt.”

“Yes, Roxas. Stuck-up snobs like me watch Doctor Who as well.”

“No…” he shook his head, slightly unnerved by the fact that she had guessed what he had been thinking. “I wanted to ask… why would you need to learn free running? Self-defence sure, but free running doesn’t make sense to me.”

Naminé gathered her cardigan in her hands and slowly started to walk to the door. “They say free running is the closest humans get to flying…” her hands slid over the handle of the door, she wasn’t even speaking to Roxas anymore. In her mind, it was a different pair of eyes that watched her go, but at the same time, the image of a five-year-old blond boy with a friendship bracelet wouldn’t leave her, no matter how hard she tried.

“You know what it feels like… to feel trapped in a cage, with no way out.”

“Yes.”

**Q**

**To** Estheim, baby!  
 **From** that weird kid (Naminé)  
 **Subject** the caterpillars are hiding in my sketchbook AGAIN

_dear Hope- you lovely glorious human being you~_

_today, i thought i came to an understanding with Roxas. i thought that he remembered how we used to be awesome friends for the first five seconds of kindergarten._

_and then i come back to my apartment and there’s a bloody mannequin Slenderman hiding behind my television with a note on his forehead saying ‘close your balcony door, bitch’. fuck. where do you even buy mannequins anyway?_

_i don’t know._

_i realise that people here are really judgemental. am i really that surprising? some terrible stuff is about to go down because of it, i can tell._

_dammit! what else am i supposed to write here!?_

_i feel that my entrepreneurism is going to be looked down upon here too-_

_and i haven’t even seen Josh since the bloody Midgar airport!_

_and i just want to go shell-collecting with Yuj, but i can’t because i’m stuck here in this fucking dangerous place re-learning free-running and self-defence._

_i don’t have a psychiatrist here, and I am surrounded by fakes and annoying pretentious people, so you’re filling in, snookums._

_-nami_

**Q**

**To** Naminé  
 **From** Hope  
 **Subject** RE: the caterpillars are hiding in my sketchbook AGAIN

Naminé,

You’re going to give me an aneurysm. Grow up and do not reply to your co-workers catty dialogue with more sarcastic drawl. I told you not to play that game. I don’t know either. There are judgemental people wherever you go, there’s just more now because you’re in a small semi-sheltered part of a huge city. There is nothing wrong with entrepreneurism, and you better check that your brother wasn’t lost in baggage or something.

(I troll in my own special way, dear.)

Not that I don’t love news of your childish antics gone awry, but gift me with some good news, the next time you send something over. Okay?

(I hate being the good listener of the group.)

 -Hope

ps. Yuj and Serah will be sending over seashells and chocobo feathers by snail mail.

**Q**

Naminé pressed herself up against the wall, waiting for Roxas to enter his apartment. The door opened, and she heard footsteps coming closer and closer to where she knew he kept his rusty old desktop. She giggled quietly to herself as she heard a few mouse clicks and then…

_“HOLY FUCK! AHHH!”_

She gave herself a congratulatory pat-on-the-back, moving over to her own computer and downloading the footage from Roxas’ webcam into her own computer.

_You learn a few things when your ex-boyfriend was a hacking genius, and your best friend is destined to be the valedictorian of The Academy._

Roxas ran over to his balcony and screamed at hers, “Kiryu, you conniving bitch!”

She stepped out onto hers and spread her arms wide, “Look at all the fucks I give, Roxas. Look at them!”

_What they didn’t teach me, were the catty remarks I’m known for-_

“You better get the exorcist off my computer!”

_That was Yuj, Lebreau and Lightning._

“And if I say no?”

“Then prepare for a living hell.”

_And Snow taught me to brush the insults off, while Serah taught me to believe no matter what._

“Keep Slenderman out of my apartment, and I’ll fix it for you.”

“Fine.”

_This place has no spirit, no culture. But I’ll endure it, maybe I can leave it a better person._

 “You know, you attract the worst attention.”

“Bring it.”

_Maqui, I’ll make you proud. I swear it._

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
